«  V   v 


LEE  THE  AMERICAN 


LEE  THE  AMERICAN 


BY 


GAMALIEL  BRADFORD,  JR, 


BOSTON   AND   NEW  YORK 

HOUGHTON  MIFFLIN  COMPANY 

(3Tbe  ftitetffte  |&re££  Cambridge 

MDCCCCXII 


COPYRIGHT,  1912,  BY  GAMALIEL  BRADFORD,  JR. 
ALL  RIGHTS  RESERVED 

Published  March  tqi2 


TO 
THE  YOUNG  MEN 

BOTH  OF  THE  NORTH  AND  OF  THE  SOUTH 

WHO  CAN  MAKE  OR  UNMAKE 

THE  FUTURE  OF  THE 

AMERICA 
OF  WASHINGTON,  OF  LINCOLN,  AND  OF  LEE 


241175 


PREF 


THE  formal  and  final  biography  of  Lee  should  be  writ 
ten  by  a  competent  military  specialist,  like  Henderson. 
This  book,  although  it  aims  to  give  an  intelligible  bio 
graphical  narrative,  aims  much  more  to  give  a  clear, 
consistent,  sympathetic  portrait  of  a  great  soul.  In  short, 
its  purpose  is  not  so  much  biography  as  psychography. 
Those  to  whom  the  latter  term  is  new  will  find  a  full 
discussion  of  it,  both  in  general  and  in  relation  to  Lee, 
in  the  Appendix. 

For  material  I  have  relied  mainly  upon  the  "  Official 
Records  of  the  Union  and  Confederate  Armies"  and  the 
lives  of  Lee  by  Long,  Jones,  Fitzhugh  Lee,  and  Captain 
R.  E.  Lee.  But  a  complete  bibliography  of  sources 
would  be  practically  a  bibliography  of  the  war  literature 
both  Northern  and  Southern.  I  have  endeavored  to 
give  in  the  Notes  my  authority  for  every  verbal  quota 
tion  and  for  all  important  or  disputable  statements  of 
fact. 

My  thanks  are  due  chiefly  to  the  "Atlantic  Monthly," 
also  to  the  "  South  Atlantic  Quarterly,"  and  the  "Sewa- 
nee  Review,"  for  their  hospitality.  This  has  enabled  me 
to  submit  all  my  chapters  to  public  criticism  before  giv 
ing  them  the  final  revision  which  has  certainly  not  elim 
inated  all  errors,  but  has,  I  hope,  diminished  the  number. 


viii  PREFACE 

I  wish  to  thank  also  the  numerous  correspondents  who 
have  sent  me  corrections  and  suggestions.  Some  have 
been  severe.  Most  have  been  kindly.  All  have  been 
helpful.  I  trust  they  will  appreciate  the  result  of  their 
helpfulness  as  much  as  I  do. 


CONTENTS 

I.  LEE  BEFORE  THE  WAR •     .        3 

Lee's  descent  and  indifference  to  it  —  his  father  —  his  mother 
—  his  childhood  —  education  —  West  Point  —  marriage  and 
Virginia  surroundings  —  life  until  the  Mexican  War  —  service 
in  Mexico  —  Scott  and  others  praise  him  —  domestic  corre 
spondence —  professional  life  during  the  fifties  —  superintend 
ent  at  West  Point  —  service  on  the  plains — political  and  per 
sonal  details  in  letters  —  arrest  of  John  Brown  —  Lee's  per 
sonal  appearance. 

II.  THE  GREAT  DECISION 25 

Growth  of  a  Lee  legend  to  be  deplored  —  his  strong  sense  of 
duty  —  his  views  before  the  war  —  approach  of  the  struggle  — 
offered  command  of  U.  S.  Army  —  interview  with  Scott  — 
resigns  his  commission  —  discussion  of  his  course  —  Rawle  on 
West  Point  —  general  excuse  of  secession  —  does  not  apply  to 
Lee  —  his  state  loyalty — a  natural  sentiment  —  has  also  a 
deeper  political  significance  —  Lee  thus  felt  he  was  fighting  for 
liberty  —  but  also  fighting  for  slavery,  the  real  cause  of  the 
war  —  Lee  did  not  believe  in  slavery  and  this  makes  tragedy 
of  his  position  —  absolute  constancy  to  decision  once  made  — 
no  thought  of  personal  advantage. 

III.  LEE  AND  DAVIS 48 

Material  for  study  of  Davis  —  his  character  —  an  orator  — 
practical  qualities  —  a  nervous  sensitive  —  his  general  rela 
tions  with  military  subordinates  —  Lee's  tact  and  deference  to 
Davis  —  instance  of  this  in  offer  to  resign  after  Gettysburg  — 
yet  Lee  does  not  hesitate  to  assert  himself,  when  necessary — 
and,  in  spite  of  all  his  tact,  finds  Davis  difficult  —  Da  vis's 
estimate  of  Lee  —  Lee's  estimate  of  Davis — their  relations 
grow  more  critical  towards  the  close  —  Davis's  unpopularity  — 


x  CONTENTS 

how  far  he  himself  was  responsible  for  this  —  public  disposi 
tion  to  set  up  Lee  as  dictator  —  he  refuses  —  friendly  relations 
between  him  and  Davis  consequently  preserved  to  the  end. 

IV.  LEE  AND  THE  CONFEDERATE  GOVERNMENT  .        .      74 

Lee  takes  command  of  Virginia  forces  —  then  enters  service  of 
Confederacy  —  his  subordination  to  civil  power  —  limits  of 
this  subordination  and  assertion  of  authority  in  various  direc 
tions  —  as  to  retaliation  —  as  to  negro  military  service  —  his 
great  influence  shown  in  this  and  in  the  desire  to  make  him  dic 
tator  —  could  he  as  such  have  saved  the  Confederacy?  —  Mo 
tives  of  his  refusal  —  not  preference  of  state  to  national  alle 
giance  —  rather,  modesty  and  unwillingness  to  assume  respons 
ibility  that  did  not  belong  to  him  —  also  a  consciousness  of  the 
uncertain  political  future  of  the  Confederacy  —  leaves  this 
future  to  God  —  his  attitude  towards  peace  negotiations  — 
believes  to  the  end  that  success  is  possible,  if  the  people  will 
make  sacrifices  —  loyal  and  lofty  acceptance  of  the  result  — 
dies  a  true  American. 

V.  LEE  AND  His  ARMY 100 

Lee's  relations  to  his  army  as  showing  his  character  —  his  or 
ganizing  ability  —  his  discipline,  lenient,  but  productive  of 
good  results  —  discipline  of  officers  —  tact  and  sympathetic 
suggestion  —  difficulties  as  to  promotion  —  disputes  of  the 
officers  with  each  other  —  largely  as  to  share  of  blame  for 
failure  —  Lee's  example  and  influence  in  this  regard  —  personal 
relation  with  officers  —  no  familiarity,  but  always  kindliness 

—  his  accessibility  —  his  relations  with  the  common  soldiers 

—  memory  for  names  and  faces  —  simplicity  of  his  habits  — 
his  army's  love  for  him  —  cause  of  this  his  love  for  them  — 
illustrative  anecdote. 

VI.  LEE  AND  JACKSON      .  .        .        .        .127 

Character  of  Jackson  —  a  fighter,  sensitive  and  kindly,  but 
full  of  devouring  energy  —  and  able  to  inspire  others  with  the 
same  —  was  he  ambitious?  —  his  religion  —  did  it  destroy  his 
ambition?  — what  he  might  have  accomplished  —  his  devotion 


CONTENTS  xi 

to  Lee  —  his  opinion  of  Lee  —  Lee's  opinion  of  Jackson  — 
their  military  relations  —  Jackson's  subordination  to  Lee  — 
his  insubordination  to  others  —  his  relations  to  his  own  in 
feriors  —  his  soldiers  love  him  —  with  his  officers  some  friction 
which  Lee  has  to  remove  —  their  relations  as  to  generalship  — 
which  deserves  the  glory?  —  especially  at  Chancellorsville  — 
Lee's  superiority  in  luminousness. 

VII.  LEE  IN  BATTLE 153 

Amount  of  Lee's  direction  in  actual  conflict  —  how  much  had  he 
of  the  soldier's  passion  for  fighting?  —  quality  of  his  courage  — 
exposure  to  danger  —  was  he  unbalanced  in  great  crises?  — 
his  heroic  combativeness  at  Antietam  — '  his  bearing  and  man 
ner  in  battle  —  picture  of  him  after  defeat  —  Lee  and  his  sol 
diers  in  battle  —  triumph  —  failure,  the  surrender  —  Lee  and  - 
Grant. 

VIII.  LEE  AS  A  GENERAL 170 

Difficulty  of  estimating  greatness  —  especially  military  great 
ness —  brief  outline  of  Lee's  military  career  —  partial  judg 
ments  in  his  favor  —  Southern  enthusiasm  —  partial  judg 
ments  against  him  —  Badeau,  Grant  —  impartial  Northern 
judgment  —  recognition  of  Lee's  difficulties  —  discussion  of 
mistakes  —  but  enthusiastic  praise  —  foreign  judgment  — 
mistakes  again  —  but  high  and  discriminating  commendation 
—  verdict  of  expert  member  of  U.  S.  general  staff  —  summary 
of  Lee's  great  qualities  —  organizing  ability  —  boldness  or 
rashness?  —  energy  and  rapidity  —  independence  —  know 
ledge  of  adversaries  —  his  character  even  more  important  than 
his  generalship. 

IX.  LEE'S  SOCIAL  AND  DOMESTIC  LIFE      .        .        .    196 

Lee's  manner  in  general  society  —  his  fondness  for  the  society 
of  women  —  his  jesting  and  quiet  fun  —  his  courtesy  and 
kindness  in  business  intercourse  —  had  he  intimate  friend 
ships?  —  a  letter  of  Johnston's  —  illustrative  anecdotes  — 
domestic  relations  —  with  his  servants  —  with  his  children  — 
advice  and  guidance  —  affection  —  generosity  —  playful  en- 


xii  CONTENTS 

joyment —  Lee  and  his  wife  —  always  isolated  —  three  so 
cial  motives  —  with  Lee  only  kindness,  human  fellowship  — 
love  of  children  —  of  animals  —  still  always  isolated  —  one 
friend  only,  God. 

X.  LEE'S  SPIRITUAL  LIFE 221 

Lee's  education  —  his  style  as  a  writer  —  shows  little  love  for 
intellectual  pursuits  —  little  taste  for  aesthetic  pleasures  — 
mild  enjoyment  of  nature  —  eminently  practical  —  not  cold, 
however,  quick  temper,  well-controlled  —  his  purity  and  gen 
eral  self-control  —  order  and  system  — New  England  con 
science —  reserve  of  speech  —  sometimes  misinterpreted  — 
thoroughly  democratic  —  had  he  ambition? — domesticity  and 
religion  —  his  religion  not  sectarian  —  not  dogmatic  —  essen 
tially  humble  —  and  largely  practical  —  public  worship  — 
forgiveness  and  Christian  spirit  —  missionary  tendencies  — 
prayer  —  Lee's  indifference  to  its  inconsistencies  —  personal 
relation  to  God  —  God  the  cardinal  fact  in  his  life.  . 

XI.  LEE  AFTER  THE  WAR  .        .        .        .        .        .    247 

Withdraws  immediately  into  private  life  —  attitude  towards 
U.  S.  government  —  refuses  to  take  part  in  politics  —  avoids 
war  topics,  but  loves  and  is  loved  by  old  soldiers  —  his  few 
recorded  opinions  on  the  war  —  avoids  all  publicity — affec 
tionate  relations  with  neighbors  and  family  —  refuses  lucra 
tive  positions  and  accepts  presidency  of  Washington  College  — 
his  labors  and  aims  as  an  educator  —  management  of  his 
faculty  —  discipline  of  students  —  as  to  conduct  —  as  to 
scholarship  —  influence  in  college  and  through  whole  South  — 
greatness  in  failure  —  value  of  this  for  all  times  and  especially 
for  twentieth  century  America. 

APPENDIX     .        . 267 

Psychography  and  its  difficulties  —  partiality  —  from  general 
prejudices  —  from  the  desire  for  rhetorical  effect  — from  per 
sonal  sympathy  —  from  laziness  —  objective  difficulties  — dif 
ficulty  of  accuracy  as  to  fact  —  actions  —  words  written  and 


CONTENTS  xiii 

reported  —  greater  difficulty  of  deducing  motive  from  action . 
—  still  greater  difficulty  of  generalizing  motives  into  qualities 
of  character  —  in  spite  of  these  difficulties  character-study  to 
be  pursued  for  its  fascination  —  also  for  its  practical  value  — 
choice  of  great  men  as  subjects  —  their  common  humanity 
— danger  of  psychography  degenerating  into  gossip  —  remedy 
for  this,  love  —  Lee  lovable — his  influence  and  desirability  of 
extending  it. 

NOTES 285 

INDEX 313 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

GENERAL  ROBERT   EDWARD   LEE.    (Photogravure). 

Frontispiece 

From  a  painting  by  Theodore  Pine  (1904),  in  the  possession  of 
Washington  and  Lee  University,  Lexington,  Va.  Now  repro 
duced  for  the  first  time. 

ROBERT  E.  LEE 10 

From  a  painting,  about  1831,  by  West  (son  or  nephew  of 
Benjamin  West),  in  the  possession  of  Washington  and  Lee 
University.  The  uniform  is  that  of  a  Second  Lieutenant, 
Corps  of  Engineers,  U.S.  Army.  It  is  the  first  painting  of  Lee, 
and  is  said  to  have  been  painted  shortly  after  his  marriage. 

JEFFERSON  DAVIS 48 

From  a  photograph  by  W.  W.  Foster,  Richmond,  Va. 

GENERAL  LEE  ON  TRAVELER 100 

From  a  photograph  by  Miley  &  Son,  Lexington,  Va. 

STONEWALL  JACKSON 128 

Drawn  from  life,  in  1861,  near  Ball's  Bluff,  by  Dr.  Adelbert 

Volck  of  Baltimore. 
Reproduced  by  the  courtesy  of  Mrs.  S.  B.  Herrick. 

MRS.  ROBERT  E.  LEE 196 

From  a  photograph  by  Miley  &  Son,  Lexington,  Va. 

ROBERT  E.  LEE 248 

From  the  painting  by  Pioto  in  the  possession  of  the  Virginia 
Military  Institute.  Now  reproduced  for  the  first  time. 


xvi  ILLUSTRATIONS 

FACSIMILE  OF  LEE'S  LETTER  ACCEPTING  THE  PRESI 
DENCY  OF  WASHINGTON  COLLEGE    ....    256 

Reproduced  by  the  courtesy  of  the  University. 

ROBERT  E.  LEE 258 

When  president  of  Washington  College.   From  a  photograph 
by  W.  W.  Foster,  Richmond,  Va. 

HEAD  FROM  RECUMBENT  STATUE  OF  LEE       .        .        .    264 

By  Edward  V.  Valentine. 

In  Lee  Memorial  Chapel,  Washington  and  Lee  University. 

From  a  photograph  by  Miley  &  Son,  Lexington,  Va. 


LEE   THE    AMERICAN 


Au  reste,  dans  toutes  ces  citations  je  ne  pretends  pas 
endosser  les  passages  que  j'emprunte ;  je  m'attache, 
comme  toujours,  afaire  valoiret  a  faireconnaitre  1'au- 
teurque  j'analyse,  par  ses  meilleurs  cotes,  laissant  au 
lecteur  la  balance  de  tout  et  1'arbitrage.  Sainte-Beuve. 


LEE  THE  AMERICAN 


LEE  BEFORE  THE  WAR 

THE  Lees  of  Virginia  are  descended  from  Richard  Lee, 
who  came  to  this  country  toward  the  middle  of  the 
seventeenth  century.  Richard's  English  affiliations  have 
been  the  subject  of  much  dispute.  Early  Virginia  gene 
alogists  derived  him  from  the  ancient  and  honorable 
family  of  Shropshire  Lees  and  thought  they  had  identi 
fied  him  exactly.  Grave  difficulties  were  discovered  in 
this  connection  and  at  one  time  the  emigrant  seemed 
likely  to  be  transferred  to  the  delightful  kinship  of  Sir 
Harry  Lee  of  Ditchley  and  Woodstock.  But  the  au 
thorities  were  still  dissatisfied,  and  have  now  apparently 
returned  to  the  Shropshire  origin,  though  Richard's 
precise  position  in  that  family  is  not  easily  determined.1 

On  his  mother's  side  Robert  Lee,  doubtless  in  com 
mon  with  some  hundreds  of  thousands  of  others,  is  said 
to  have  been  descended  from  King  Robert  Bruce.2 

Like  many  people  who  have  ancestors,  Lee  displayed 
a  considerable  indifference  to  them.  "General  Lee  had 
never  the  time  or  inclination  to  study  genealogy,  and 
always  said  he  knew  nothing  beyond  his  first  ancestor, 
Colonel  Richard  Lee,  who  migrated  to  America  in  the 


4  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

reign  of  Charles  I."  3  On  having  a  seal  cut  he  does  in 
deed,  with  apology,  show  some  interest  about  the  arms, 
"  which  I  have  thought,  perhaps  foolishly  enough,  might 
as  well  be  right  as  wrong."  4  But  when  an  enterprising 
genealogist  undertakes  a  Lee  book,  the  general's  com 
ment  is :  "I  am  very  much  obliged  to  Mr.  -  -  for  the 
trouble  he  has  taken  in  relation  to  the  Lee  genealogy. 
I  have  no  desire  to  have  it  published,  and  do  not  think 
it  would  afford  sufficient  interest  beyond  the  immediate 
family  to  pay  for  the  expense.  I  think  the  money  had 
better  be  appropriated  to  relieve  the  poor."  5 

Which  does  not  mean  that  he  was  not  daily  and 
hourly  conscious  with  pride  that  he  belonged  to  the 
Virginia  Lees,  a  name  writ  as  large  as  any  in  the  history 
of  the  country  and  transmitted  to  him  with  an  honor 
which  it  was  his  constant  care  never  to  tarnish.  From 
the  first  Richard  down,  the  Lees  had  always  been  doing 
something  useful  and  often  something  great,  and  they 
were  distinguished  by  the  friendship  as  well  as  by  the 
admiration  of  Washington. 

Robert  Lee's  father,  Light  Horse  Harry,  fought  the 
Revolutionary  War  beside  Washington  and  Greene. 
He  was  a  fiery  soldier  and  a  more  impetuous  spirit  than 
his  son.  He  took  a  hot  and  eager  part  in  politics  and 
had  warm  friends  and  bitter  enemies.  In  his  last  lin 
gering  illness  his  colored  nurse  did  something  he  did 
not  like.  He  flung  his  boot  at  her.  She  flung  it  back 
and  won  his  heart.  It  is  a  trivial  incident,  but  it  is  worth 


LEE  BEFORE  THE  WAR  5 

a  chapter  in  differentiating  the  father  from  the  son,  who 
flung  no  boots  and  had  none  flung  at  him. 

Harry  Lee  was  a  scholar  and  loved  literature.  He 
read  Sophocles  and  Racine  and  the  Greek  philosophers 
and  commented  on  them  in  letters  far  more  spirited  and 
delightful  than  any  of  Robert's.  The  father  also  wrote 
memoirs  which  the  son  edited.  Partial  admirers  rate 
them  with  Caesar's.  Jefferson,  who  hated  Harry  Lee 
politically,  says  of  them :  "I  am  glad  to  see  the  romance 
of  Lee  removed  from  the  shelf  of  history  to  that  of  fable. 
Some  small  portions  of  the  transactions  he  relates  were 
within  my  own  knowledge;  and  of  these  I  can  say  he 
has  given  more  falsehood  than  fact."  6 

Harry  Lee  was  forty-nine  years  old  in  1807,  when 
Robert  was  born.  The  son  was  only  eleven  when  his 
father  died  and  during  much  of  that  time  they  had  not 
been  together.  Therefore  the  paternal  influence  is  not 
likely  to  have  been  very  great.  Nevertheless,  Lee  cher 
ished  his  father's  memory  with  deep  reverence.  When 
he  was  in  South  Carolina  in  1861,  he  wrote,  "  I  had  the 
gratification  at  length  of  visiting  my  father's  grave."  7 
And  Colonel  Long  describes  the  incident  simply  but 
impressively:  "He  went  alone  to  the  tomb,  and  after  a 
few  moments  of  silence,  plucked  a  flower  and  slowly 
retraced  his  steps."  8 

Lee's  relations  with  his  mother  were  much  more 
intimate  and  prolonged.  She  appears  to  have  been 
a  woman  of  high  character  and  to  have  taught  her  son 


6  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

practical  as  well  as  moral  excellences.  She  was  for 
many  years  an  invalid  and  Robert  took  much  of  the  care 
both  of  her  and  of  the  household,  which  may  have  been 
useful  training  in  self-sacrifice,  but  must  have  cut  him 
off  somewhat  from  the  natural  outflow,  the  fresh  spon- 
taneousness  of  boyish  spirits.  I  think  he  showed  the 
effect  of  this  all  his  life. 

Of  his  childish  years  we  know  little.  He  came  so  late 
to  greatness  that  the  usual  crop  of  reminiscences  does 
not  seem  to  have  been  gathered.  Perhaps  he  did  not 
furnish  good  material  for  reminiscences.  Who  were  his 
companions?  Did  he  love  them  and  they  him?  What 
were  his  hopes  and  ambitions?  Was  it  to  be  said  of 
him,  as  was  said  of  his  father,  that  "  he  seems  to  have 
come  out  of  his  mother's  womb  a  soldier  "  ?  9  We  get  a 
rare  glimpse  of  love  for  sports  :  "  In  later  days  General 
Lee  has  been  heard  to  relate  with  enthusiasm  how  as  a 
boy  he  had  followed  the  hunt  (not  infrequently  on  foot) 
for  hours  over  hill  and  valley  without  fatigue."  10  Horses 
all  his  life  were  a  delight  to  him.  He  himself  wrote  :  "  I 
know  the  pleasure  of  training  a  handsome  horse.  I  en 
joy  it  as  much  as  any  one."  n  A  good  observer  wrcce  of 
him :  "  He  loved  horses,  and  had  good  ones,  and  rode 
carefully  and  safely,  but  I  never  liked  his  seat."  12 

On  exceptional  occasions  some  touch  of  boyish  mem 
ory  breaks  through  habitual  reserve.  "'Twas  seldom 
that  he  allowed  his  mind  to  wander  to  the  days  of  his 
childhood  and  talk  of  his  father  and  his  early  associates, 


LEE  BEFORE  THE  WAR  7 

but  when  he  did  he  was  far  more  charming  than  he 
thought,"  says  Longstreet,13  with  unusually  delicate  dis 
crimination.  Thus  Lee  writes,  after  the  war,  to  a  lady 
who  had  sent  him  photographs  of  Stratford,  the  fine  old 
Virginia  manor  house  where  he  was  born:  "Your  pic 
ture  vividly  recalls  scenes  of  my  earliest  recollections  and 
happiest  days.  Though  unseen  for  years,  every  feature 
of  the  house  is  familiar  to  me."  And  Miss  Mason  tells 
us  that  shortly  before  his  death  he  visited  Alexandria 
and  "one  of  the  old  neighbors  found  him  gazing  wist 
fully  over  the  palings  of  the  garden  in  which  he  used  to 
play.  *  I  am  looking/  said  he,  '  to  see  if  the  old  snowball 
trees  are  still  here.  I  should  have  been  sorry  to  miss 
them.' "  14 

We  know  hardly  more  of  Lee's  education  than  of  his 
childish  adventures  and  amusements.  When  he  was 
thirteen  years  old,  Jefferson  wrote  of  Virginia  generally : 
"What  is  her  education  now?  Where  is  it?  The  little 
we  have  we  import,  like  beggars,  from  other  states ;  or 
import  their  begg'ars  to  bestow  on  us  their  miserable 
crumbs."  15  But  Jefferson  was  especially  deploring  the 
lack  of  educational  institutions.  His  democratic  instincts 
could  not  tolerate  the  traditions  of  a  country  where  down 
to  the  time  of  the  Revolution  "  newspapers  and  literature 
at  large  were  a  prescribed  commodity,"  16  and  whose  gov 
ernor,  Sir  William  Berkeley,  said  :  "  I  thank  God  there 
are  no  free  schools  nor  printing  and  I  hope  we  shall  not 
have  them  these  hundred  years."  17  Young  men  in  Lee's 


8  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

station  doubtless  received  more  or  less  solid  instruction 
of  the  classical  order.  In  1811  the  Lees  removed  to  Alex 
andria  with  the  special  purpose  of  educating  the  child 
ren.  Robert's  first  teacher  was  a  Mr.  Leary,  who  lived 
until  after  the  war,  and  to  whom  his  pupil  wrote  in  1866, 
with  kindly  remembrance :  "I  beg  to  express  the  grati 
tude  I  have  felt  all  my  life  for  the  affectionate  fidelity 
which  characterized  your  teaching  and  conduct  towards 
me."  18  Later,  in  preparation  for  West  Point,  Lee,  still  at 
Alexandria,  attended  the  school  of  Mr.  Benjamin  Hallo- 
well,  where  his  time  was  chiefly  devoted  to  mathemat 
ics.  Hallowell  writes  that  "he  was  a  most  exemplary 
student  in  every  respect/' 19  with  other  laudatory  re 
miniscences  which  had  probably  lost  nothing  by  the 
lapse  of  time  and  the  growing  celebrity  of  the  subject 
of  them. 

In  1825,  when  he  was  eighteen  years  old,  Lee  entered 
West  Point.  There  seems  to  be  general,  if  rather  indefin 
ite,  testimony  to  his  excellent  conduct  and  standing  in 
the  Academy.  He  was  a  good  scholar  and  graduated 
high  in  his  class  ;  but  I  do  not  find  many  anecdotes  from 
contemporaries  that  will  help  us  to  humanize  his  life 
there.  His  unquestioned  temperance  and  self-control  in 
moral  matters  appear  doubly  creditable,  when  we  read 
the  statements  made  by  Colonel  Thayer,  superintendent 
of  West  Point  at  that  time,  to  President  Adams,  as  to 
the  drunkenness  and  dissipation  generally  prevalent 
among  the  young  men.20 


LEE   BEFORE  THE  WAR  9 

Lee  graduated  duly  in  1829,  immediately  received  an 
appointment  in  the  Engineer  Corps,  and  was  stationed 
for  some  years  at  Old  Point  Comfort.  During  this  time 
he  married,  at  Arlington,  in  June,  1831,  Miss  Custis, 
Mrs.  Washington's  great-granddaughter,  and  through 
her  he  later  came  into  control  of  an  extensive  property, 
with  farms,  and  mansions,  and  a  considerable  number  of 
slaves.  Although  we  get  little  account  of  it,  his  early 
married  life  must  have  brought  him  largely  into  contact 
with  all  the  opulence  and  gayety  and  grace  of  that  old 
Virginia  aristocracy  whose  faults  and  virtues  Mr.  Page 
has  painted  so  winningly  that  the  faults  seem  almost  as 
attractive  as  the  virtues.  Brave,  handsome,  courtly  men, 
pure,  dainty,  loving,  high-minded  women,  danced  and 
laughed  away  the  time,  as  they  did  in  the  golden  world. 
"  For  all  its  faults,  it  was,  I  believe,  the  purest,  sweetest 
life  ever  lived,"  21  says  Mr.  Page.  Then  the  Northern 
reader  turns  to  the  cold,  judicial  narrative  of  Olmsted 
and  reads  of  these  same  chivalrous  gentlemen  that, 
though  "honorable,  hospitable,  and  at  the  bottom  of 
their  hearts  kind  and  charitable,  they  yet  nursed  a  high, 
overweening  sense  of  their  importance  and  dignity."  22 
He  reads  other  facts  in  Olmsted,  of  a  much  darker  and 
grimmer  order,  and  cannot  avoid  the  momentary  reflec 
tion  that  the  most  graceful  and  charming  society  in  the 
world  danced  and  laughed  in  France  also  before  the 
Revolution.  It  may  be,  there  are  some  ugly  things  that 
light  hearts  are  dancing  over  to-day. 


io  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

By  temperament  Lee  had  none  of  the  vices  of  that 
vanishing  world  and  perhaps  not  all  its  good  qualities. 
I  doubt  if  it  ever  impressed  him  very  deeply,  and  his 
wandering  military  life  soon  withdrew  him  altogether 
from  its  influence.  One  reminiscence  of  this  period  — 
though  only  a  reminiscence,  and  no  doubt  colored  by  the 
event,  as  such  usually  are — has  marked  interest  in  its 
anticipation  of  what  was  to  come.  It  is  given  by  a  re 
lative.  "  I  have  often  said  since  he  entered  on  his  bril 
liant  career  that,  although  we  all  admired  him  for  his 
remarkable  beauty  and  attractive  manners,  I  did  not  see 
anything  in  him  that  prepared  me  for  his  so  far  outstrip 
ping  all  his  compeers.  The  first  time  this  idea  presented 
itself  to  me  was  during  one  of  my  visits  to  Arlington 
after  my  marriage.  We  were  all  seated  around  the  table 
at  night,  Robert  reading.  I  looked  up  and  my  eye  fell 
upon  his  face  in  perfect  repose,  and  the  thought  at  once 
passed  through  my  mind  :  '  You  certainly  look  more  like 
a  great  man  than  any  one  I  have  ever  seen.' "  23  If  all 
those  who  look  like  great  men  to  their  female  relatives 
attained  Lee's  greatness,  what  a  great  world  it  would  be. 
Yet  this  glimpse  has  a  crisp  definiteness  which  makes 
one  unwilling  to  pass  it  over. 

During  the  years  preceding  the  Mexican  War,  Lee 
followed  his  profession  of  military  engineer  in  different 
parts  of  the  country.  Now  he  was  in  Washington,  in 
cidentally  messing  with  Joe  Johnston  and  others  after 
wards  more  or  less  notable.  Now  he  was  in  Ohio  ad- 


ROBERT  E.   LEE 


LEE   BEFORE  THE  WAR  n 

justing  the  boundary  between  that  state  and  Michigan ; 
or  in  New  York  Harbor,  supervising  the  defenses. 

Perhaps  the  most  important  of  his  engineering  labors 
were  those  at  St.  Louis,  connected  with  governing  and 
controlling  the  course  of  the  Mississippi  River.  The  in 
teresting  thing  here  is  that  at  first  he  met  with  a  good 
deal  of  opposition  and  abuse.  He  bore  this  with  entire 
equanimity,  quietly  going  on  with  his  work,  until  his 
final  success  won  the  approval  and  admiration  of  those 
who  had  been  most  ready  to  find  fault.24  It  was  the 
same  indomitable  perseverance,  without  regard  to  critic 
ism,  which  he  showed  again  and  again  during  the  war 
and  which  is  most  concretely  illustrated  in  the  humorous 
anecdote  told  of  him  in  Mexico.  He  had  been  ordered 
to  take  some  sailors  and  construct  a  battery  to  be 
manned  by  them  afterwards.  The  sailors  did  not  like  to 
dig  dirt,  and  swore.  Even  their  captain  remonstrated. 
His  men  were  fighters,  not  moles.  Lee  simply  showed 
his  orders  and  persisted.  When  the  firing  began,  the 
eager  mariners  found  their  earthworks  exceedingly  com 
fortable.  Their  commander  went  so  far  as  to  apologize 
to  Lee.  "  Captain,  I  suppose,  after  all,  your  works  helped 
the  boys  a  good  deal.  But  the  fact  is,  I  never  did  like 
this  land  fighting  —  it  ain't  clean."  25 

The  value  of  Lee's  services  during  the  Mexican  War 
has  perhaps  been  exaggerated  ;  but  the  direct  evidence 
shows  that  they  were  signal  and  important.  He  began  as 
captain,  serving  with  General  Wool  at  the  battle  of  Buena 


12  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

Vista.  He  then  joined  General  Scott  and  took  part  in  the 
siege  of  Vera  Cruz.  He  was  brevetted  major  at  Cerro 
Gordo,  lieutenant-colonel  at  Contreras,  and  colonel  at 
Chapultepec.  At  the  latter  place  he  was  slightly  wounded. 
From  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  the  war  he  displayed 
energy,  daring,  and  resource. 

Various  anecdotes  are  told  of  his  personal  achieve 
ments  and  adventures,  of  his  scouting  expedition  with  a 
Mexican  guide  before  Buena  Vista,  when  Lee's  persistent 
reconnoissance  of  the  enemy's  position  turned  a  vast  col 
lection  of  white  tents  into  a  Quixotic  flock  of  sheep,  of 
his  nocturnal  and  storm-beaten  exploration  of  a  craggy 
lava  tract,  called  the  Pedregal,  where  no  other  man  durst 
venture  and  whence  no  one  believed  that  he  could  return 
alive. 

As  to  this  last  incident  General  Scott  declared,  in  formal 
legal  testimony :  "  I  had  dispatched  several  staff  officers 
who  had,  within  the  space  of  two  hours,  returned  and 
reported  to  me  that  each  had  found  it  impracticable  to 
penetrate  far  into  the  Pedrigal  during  the  dark.  .  .  . 
Captain  Lee,  having  passed  over  the  difficult  ground  by 
daylight,  found  it  just  possible  to  return  to  San  Augustin 
in  the  dark,  the  greatest  feat  of  physical  and  moral  cour 
age  performed  by  any  individual,  in  my  knowledge, 
pending  the  campaign."  26  And  General  P.  F.  Smith  testi 
fies  to  the  same  effect :  "  I  wish  partially  to  record  my 
admiration  of  the  conduct  of  Captain  Lee,  of  the  Engin 
eers.  His  reconnoissances,  though  pushed  far  beyond 


LEE   BEFORE  THE  WAR  13 

the  bounds  of  prudence,  were  conducted  with  so  much 
skill  that  their  fruits  were  of  the  utmost  value  —  the 
soundness  of  his  judgment  and  personal  daring  being 
equally  conspicuous.27 

Scott  also  bears  general  and  repeated  witness  to  the 
value  of  Lee's  labors  and  the  excellence  of  his  character. 
We  have  the  commander's  written  praise  of  "the  gallant 
and  indefatigable  Captain  Lee,"  28  who  was  "  as  distin 
guished  for  felicitous  execution  as  for  science  and  dar 
ing."  29  We  have  the  more  emphatic,  if  less  reliable,  re 
ported  sayings,  that  Scott's  own  success  in  Mexico  was 
"largely  due  to  the  skill,  valor,  and  undaunted  energy 
of  R.  E.  Lee,"  30  that  "  Lee  is  the  greatest  military  genius 
in  America,"  31  and  that  "  if  I  were  on  my  deathbed  to 
morrow,  and  the  President  of  the  United  States  should 
tell  me  that  a  great  battle  was  to  be  fought  for  the  lib 
erty  or  slavery  of  the  country,  and  asked  my  judgment 
as  to  the  ability  of  a  commander,  I  would  say,  with  my 
dying  breath,  let  it  be  Robert  E.  Lee."  32 

Nor  was  this  wholly  a  matter  of  Scott's  personal  par 
tiality  ;  for  the  comment  of  other  generals  is  equally  laud 
atory.  Lee's  "  distinguished  merit  and  gallantry  deserve 
the  highest  praise,"  says  Pillow.33  Lee, "  in  whose  skill  and 
judgment  I  had  the  utmost  confidence,"  says  Shields.34 
"  Equally  daring  and  not  less  meritorious  were  the  serv 
ices  of  Captain  Lee,"  says  Pillow  again.35 

I  have  dwelt  thus  minutely  on  these  words  of  contem 
poraries,  because  they  come  from  men  who  thought  of 


i4  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

Lee  merely  as  a  promising  captain  among  other  cap 
tains  and  did  not  look  back  to  his  dim  past  through  the 
purple  haze  of  Chancellorsville  and  the  Wilderness. 

With  the  Mexican  War  we  enter  more  freely  upon 
Lee's  letters  to  his  wife  and  children,  which  from  that 
time  on  form  the  best  commentary  on  his  life  and  charac 
ter.  He  shows  a  keen  appreciation  of  the  beauty  and 
richness  of  Mexican  landscape:  "Jalapa  is  the  most 
beautiful  country  I  have  seen  in  Mexico,  and  will  com 
pare  with  any  I  have  seen  elsewhere.  [Lee  had  traveled 
widely  in  his  own  land,  but  he  never  visited  Europe.] 
I  wish  it  was  in  the  United  States,  and  that  I  was  located, 
with  you  and  the  children  around  me,  in  one  of  its  rich, 
bright  valleys.  I  can  conceive  nothing  more  beautiful  in 
the  way  of  landscape  or  mountain  scenery.  We  ascended 
upwards  of  four  thousand  feet  that  morning,  and  when 
ever  we  looked  back  the  rich  valley  was  glittering  in 
the  morning  sun  and  the  light  morning  clouds  flitting 
around  us.  On  reaching  the  top,  the  valley  appeared  at 
intervals  between  the  clouds  which  were  below  us,  and 
high  over  all  towered  Orizaba,  with  its  silver  cap  of 
snow."  36 

He  visits  a  sacred  shrine  and  blends  tropical  color  with 
the  formal  splendors  of  Catholic  devotion  :  "  The  *  Trees 
of  the  Noche  Triste,'  so  called  from  their  blooming 
about  the  period  of  that  event,  are  now  in  full  bloom. 
The  flower  is  a  round  ellipsoid,  and  of  the  most  magni 
ficent  scarlet  color  I  ever  saw.  I  have  two  of  them  in  my 


LEE  BEFORE  THE  WAR  15 

cup  before  me  now.  I  wish  I  could  send  them  to  you. 
The  holy  image  was  standing  on  a  large  silver  maguey 
plant,  with  a  rich  crown  on  her  head  and  an  immense 
silver  petticoat  on.  There  were  no  votaries  at  her  shrine, 
which  was  truly  magnificent,  but  near  the  entrance  of  the 
church  were  the  offerings  of  those  whom  she  had  re 
lieved.  They  consist  of  representations  in  wax  of  the 
parts  of  the  human  body  that  she  had  cured  of  the  dis 
eases  with  which  they  had  been  affected.  And  I  may  say 
there  were  all  parts.  I  saw  many  heads  severed  from  the 
trunks.  Whether  they  represented  those  she  had  restored 
I  could  not  learn.  It  would  be  a  difficult  feat."  37 

The  references  to  politics  in  these  letters  are  interesting 
because  they  show  more  vehemence  and  ardor  of  expres 
sion  than,  I  think,  Lee  would  have  permitted  himself  in 
later  years.  Thus,  he  writes  of  the  treatment  of  Trist  by 
the  Administration :  "  I  presume  it  is  perfectly  fair,  having 
made  use  of  his  labors,  and  taken  from  him  all  that  he  had 
earned,  that  he  should  be  kicked  off  as  General  Scott 
has  been,  whose  skill  and  science,  having  crushed  the 
enemy  and  conquered  a  peace,  can  now  be  dismissed, 
and  turned  out  as  an  old  horse  to  die."  38  And,  again  in 
connection  with  Scott :  "  The  great  cause  of  our  success 
was  in  our  leader.  It  was  his  stout  heart  that  cast  us  on 
the  shore  of  Vera  Cruz  ;  his  bold  self-reliance  that  forced 
us  through  the  pass  at  Cerro  Gordo ;  his  indomitable 
courage  that,  amidst  all  the  doubts  and  difficulties  that 
surrounded  us  at  Puebla,  pressed  us  forward  to  this  cap- 


16  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

ital,  and  finally  brought  us  within  its  gates,  while  others, 
who  croaked  all  the  way  from  Brazos,  and  advised  delay 
at  Puebla,  finding  themselves  at  last,  contrary  to  their 
expectations,  comfortably  quartered  within  the  city,  find 
fault  with  the  way  they  came  there."  39 

Also,  as  to  the  general  question  of  the  war,  the  cap 
tain  of  forty  speaks  out  with  greater  frankness  than  we 
find  in  the  letters  of  the  Confederate  commander  of  fifty- 
five.  "It  is  rather  late  in  the  day  to  discuss  the  origin 
of  the  war;  that  ought  to  have  been  understood  before 
we  engaged  in  it.  It  may  have  been  produced  by  the 
act  of  either  party  or  the  force  of  circumstances.  Let  the 
pedants  of  diplomacy  determine.  It  is  certain  that  we 
are  the  victors  in  a  regular  war,  continued,  if  not  brought 
on,  by  their  obstinacy  and  ignorance,  and  they  are 
whipped  in  a  manner  of  which  women  might  be  ashamed. 
We  have  the  right,  by  the  laws  of  war,  of  dictating  the 
terms  of  peace  and  requiring  indemnity  for  our  losses 
and  expenses.  Rather  than  forego  that  right,  except 
through  a  spirit  of  magnanimity  to  a  crushed  foe,  I 
would  fight  them  ten  years,  but  I  would  be  generous  in 
exercising  it."  40 

After  the  Mexican  War,  Lee  resumed  the  routine  life 
of  his  profession,  sojourning  in  one  part  of  the  country 
or  another,  as  duty  called.  He  was  invited  by  the  Cuban 
Junta  to  become  their  military  leader  ;41  but  he  declined 
because  he  felt  such  a  position  to  be  hardly  compatible 
with  his  training  as  an  officer  of  the  United  States  Army. 


LEE  BEFORE  THE  WAR  17 

He  was  busied  for  some  time  with  the  construction  of  a 
fort  in  Baltimore.  In  185 2,' he  was  made  superintendent 
of  the  West  Point  Academy.  His  diffidence  about  ac-  . 
cepting  this  position  is  extremely  characteristic :  "  I  learn 
with  much  regret  the  determination  of  the  Secretary  of 
War  to  assign  me  to  that  duty,  and  I  fear  I  cannot 
realize  his  'expectations  in  the  management  of  an  Insti 
tution  requiring  morfc  skill  and  more  experience  than  I 
command."  42 

I  find  little  direct  evidence  as  to  Lee's  life  at  West 
Point,  but  his  biographer  declares  that  it  was  in  every 
way  successful.  "The  discipline  of  the  Academy  was 
made  more  efficient,  .  .  .  and  a  spacious  riding-hall 
was  constructed." 43  Colonel  Chesney  makes  similar 
statements  from  personal  observation :  "  The  writer 
visited  West  Point  during  the  time  of  General  Lee's 
charge  and  saw  the  institution  very  thoroughly,  passing 
some  days  there.  He  is  able,  therefore,  to  testify  to  its 
completeness,  and  the  efficiency  of  the  courses  of  study 
and  discipline  —  never  more  remarkable,  he  believes, 
than  at  that  period."  44  Captain  Lee  bears  witness  to 
his  father's  kindness  of  manner  and  ready  tact  in  making 
the  raw  students  feel  at  ease  and  tells  one  anecdote  which 
is  perfectly  in  character.  Lee  was  riding  one  day  with 
his  son,  when  they  caught  sight  of  three  cadets  who 
were  evidently  far  out  of  bounds  and  who  at  once  re 
tired  still  further.  After  a  few  moments'  silence,  Lee 
said :  "  Did  you  know  those  young  men  ?  But  no,  if  you 


18  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

did,  don't  say  so.   I  wish  boys  would  do  what  is  right ; 
it  would  be  so  much  easier  for  all  parties."  45 

In  1855  Lee  was  appointed  to  a  lieutenant-colonelcy 
in  one  of  the  newly  created  cavalry  regiments  and  ceased 
his  connection  with  West  Point.  From  this  time  until 
the  breaking-out  of  the  war  his  service  was  mainly  in 
the  Western  and  Southwestern  States,  while  his  family 
remained  at  Arlington. 

Many  of  the  letters  written  during  these  years  have 
been  printed.  As  letters  they  are  not  especially  brilliant 
or  remarkable.  But  they  are  interesting  for  the  study  of 
Lee,  as  showing  his  gentleness,  his  constant  care  and 
thought  for  others,  and  his  shrewd  and  just  observation 
of  everything  that  was  going  on  about  him.  Playful 
descriptions  of  scenes  and  people  alternate  with  deeper 
feeling,  such  as  his  expression  of  grief  for  a  child  over 
whose  body  he  had  been  asked  to  read  the  funeral 
service.  "I  hope  I  shall  not  be  called  on  again,  for 
though  I  believe  that  it  is  far  better  for  the  child  to  be 
called  by  its  Heavenly  Creator  into  His  presence  in  its 
purity  and  innocence,  unpolluted  by  sin  and  uncon- 
taminated  by  the  vices  of  the  world,  still  it  so  wrings  a 
parent's  heart  with  anguish  that  it  is  painful  to  see.  Yet 
I  know  it  was  done  in  mercy  to  both — mercy  to  the 
child,  mercy  to  the  parents."  46 

.To  his  own  children  he  writes  with  gayety  and  grace. 
"  Robert  ....  has  been  prospecting  about  the  neigh 
borhood  for  cherry  trees,  and  their  bloom  on  the  sides  of 


LEE  BEFORE  THE  WAR  19 

the  mountains  delights  his  vision  every  moment.  He 
revels  at  dinner  in  fried  chicken  and  mush.  An  elegant 
school,  in  his  opinion."  47  And  again  he  passes  to  sober 
advice,  useful,  if  not  original :  "  As  you  have  com 
menced,  I  hope  you  will  continue  never  to  exceed  your 
means.  It  will  save  you  much  anxiety  and  mortification, 
and  enable  you  to  maintain  your  independence  of  char 
acter  and  feeling.  It  is  easier  to  make  our  wishes  con 
form  to  our  means  than  our  means  conform  to  our 
wishes.  In  fact,  we  want  but  little.  Our  happiness  de 
pends  upon  our  independence,  the  success  of  our  opera 
tions,  prosperity  of  our  plans,  health,  contentment,  and 
the  esteem  of  our  friends." 48 

Then  suddenly,  into  a  life  thus  organized  for  compar 
ative  peace  and  quiet,  burst  the  thunderbolt  of  war.  It 
had  not,  of  course,  been  unexpected,  to  Lee  any  more 
than  to  any  one  else.  To  him,  more  than  perhaps  to 
almost  any  one  else,  because  of  his  position  and  temper 
ament,  it  came  full  of  burden  and  anguish,  unillumined 
by  hope.  He  trusts  that  President  Buchanan  "will  be 
able  to  extinguish  fanaticism  North  and  South,  cultivate 
love  for  the  country  and  Union,  and  restore  harmony 
between  the  different  sections."  49  As  the  danger  comes 
nearer,  he  finds  confidence  more  difficult :  "  My  little 
personal  troubles  sink  into  insignificance  when  I  contem 
plate  the  condition  of  the  country,  and  I  feel  as  if  I  could 
easily  lay  down  my  life  for  its  safety.  But  I  also  feel  that 
would  bring  but  little  good."  50 


20  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

In  October,  1859,  Lee  was  on  furlough  at  Arlington, 
and  it  must  be  regarded  as  exceedingly  dramatic,  all 
things  considered,  that  he  should  have  been  the  officer 
ordered  to  arrest  John  Brown.  It  was  not  in  Lee's  nature 
to  play  up  to  a  dramatic  situation,  however,  and  his 
conduct  of  the  affair  was  as  quiet,  as  businesslike,  as  free 
from  sensational  methods,  as  such  a  thing  could  be.  He 
made  his  preparations,  called  on  Brown  and  his  followers 
to  surrender,  gave  the  order  to  attack,  attacked,  and  in 
a  few  moments  all  was  over.  His  own  account  in  his 
memorandum-book  is  perfectly  dry  and  quiet :  "  Tuesday 
about  sunrise,  with  twelve  marines  under  the  command 
of  Lieutenant  Green,  broke  in  the  door  of  the  engine- 
house,  secured  the  robbers,  and  released  all  of  the 
[Southern]  prisoners  unhurt."  51  His  testimony  before 
the  Congressional  Committee  as  to  the  whole  affair  is  in 
the  same  tone :  "  The  result  proves  that  the  plan  was 
the  attempt  of  a  fanatic  or  madman  which  could  only 
end  in  failure  ;  and  its  temporary  success  was  owing  to 
the  panic  and  confusion  he  succeeded  in  creating  by 
magnifying  his  numbers."  52  Yet  a  mind  so  shrewd  as 
Lee's  must  have  had  some  suspicion  that  there  were 
more  fanatics  and  madmen  in  the  North  who  might 
create  panic  and  confusion  beside  which  Brown's  would 
be  utterly  insignificant. 

As  we  pause  here  for  a  moment,  before  entering  on 
the  sudden  and  astonishing  glory  of  Lee's  career,  it  will 
be  well  to  form  some  conception  of  his  physical  qualities 


LEE  BEFORE  THE  WAR  21 

and  personal  appearance.  The  great  doers  of  the  world 
have  not  always  been  handsome  'or  even  imposing. 
Caesar,  when  he  triumphed,  may  have  had  dignity  from 
habit  of  command,  but  there  can  have  been  little  beauty 
in  his  lean  caducity.  Napoleon,  in  later  years,  was  fat 
and  vulgar,  for  all  the  dominating  power  of  his  glance. 
It  pleases  us  to  think  that  Grant  and  Lincoln  could  look 
as  they  did  and  be  what  they  were.  Yet  there  is  unde 
niably  something  appropriate,  something  satisfying  in 
the  kingly  stature  and  lineaments  of  Pericles  and 
Washington.  It  cannot  harm  a  royal  soul  to  dwell 
within  a  royal  body.  And  not  Pericles  nor  Washington 
would  seem  in  this  to  have  been  more  royal  than  was 
Lee. 

From  the  study  of  photographs  I  get  a  more  charming 
impression  of  his  later  years  than  of  his  earlier.  The  face 
and  figure  of  the  captain  are  eminently  noble,  high 
bred,  dignified  ;  but  with  the  dignity  there  is  just  a  sug 
gestion  of  haughtiness,  of  remoteness.  Or  do  I  only  see 
in  the  picture  what  I  imagine  of  the  man  ?  But  in  the 
bearded  photographs  of  later  years  all  trace  of  such  re 
moteness  has  vanished.  The  dignity  is  more  marked 
than  ever,  but  all  sweet.  The  ample,  lordly  carriage,  the 
broad  brow,  the  deep,  significant,  intelligent  eyes  convey 
nothing  but  the  largest  tenderness,  the  profoundest  hu 
man  sympathy,  the  most  perfect  love.  And  again  per 
haps  I  only  see  what  I  imagine. 

The  record  of  actual  observers  is  of  more  interest  than 


22  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

any  comment  founded  on  portraits,  since  Captain  Lee 
tells  us  that  "  my  father  could  never  bear  to  have  his 
picture  taken  and  there  are  no  likenesses  of  him  that 
really  give  his  sweet  expression."  53  To  begin  with,  Lee's 
was  a  thoroughly  manly  beauty  and  founded  all  his 
life  on  a  magnificent  physique.  "  From  infancy  to 
threescore,"  says  an  opponent  who  loved  and  admired 
him,  "  he  knew  no  physical  malady  [this  is  not  strictly 
correct] ,  and  the  admirable  symmetry  of  his  person  and 
the  manly  beauty  of  his  countenance  were  the  aids  to  his 
virtue  which  secured  to  him  tolerance,  affection,  and 
respect  from  all  with  whom  he  mingled."  54  Even  towards 
the  close  of  the  war,  when  he  was  nearly  sixty,  it  was  his 
habit,  when  the  pressure  was  great,  "  to  retire  about  ten 
or  eleven  at  night,  to  rise  at  3  A.M.,  breakfast  by  candle 
light  and  return  to  the  front,  spending  the  entire  day  on 
the  lines."  55 

In  his  earlier  life  he  is  described  by  General  Hunt  as 
being  "as  fine-looking  a  man  as  one  would  wish  to  see, 
of  perfect  figure  and  strikingly  handsome,"  56  and  by 
General  Meigs  as  "  a  man  then  in  the  vigor  of  youthful 
strength,  with  a  noble  and  commanding  presence,  and  an 
admirable,  graceful,  and  athletic  figure."  67  "  He  had," 
says  General  Preston,  "  a  finished  form,  delicate  hands ; 
was  graceful  in  person." 58  When  he  became  superintend 
ent  at  West  Point  he  is  pictured  more  minutely  as  "  five 
feet  eleven  inches  high,  weighing  175  pounds,  hair  orig 
inally  jet  black  and  inclined  to  curl  at  the  ends ;  eyes 


LEE  BEFORE  THE  WAR  23 

hazel  brown,  face  cleanly  shaved,  except  a  mustache ;  a 
countenance  which  beamed  with  gentleness  and  bene 
volence."  59 

At  the  time  of  the  war,  when  more  years  had  passed 
over  him,  Wise  portrays  him  as  follows :  "  His  form  had 
fullness  without  any  appearance  of  superfluous  flesh,  and 
was  as  erect  as  that  of  a  cadet,  without  the  slightest  ap 
pearance  of  constraint.  His  features  are  too  well  known 
to  need  description,  but  no  representation  of  General 
Lee  which  I  have  ever  seen  properly  conveys  the  light 
and  softness  of  his  eye,  the  tenderness  and  intelligence 
of  his  mouth,  or  the  indescribable  refinement  of  his  face. 
One  picture  gives  him  a  meatiness  about  the  nose ;  an 
other,  hard  or  coarse  lines  about  the  mouth ;  another, 
heaviness  about  the  chin.  None  of  them  gives  the  effect 
of  his  hair  and  beard.  I  have  seen  all  the  great  men  of 
our  times,  except  Mr.  Lincoln,  and  I  have  no  hesitation 
in  saying  that  Robert  E.  Lee  was  incomparably  the 
greatest  looking  of  them  all."  60  And  Alexander  H.  Ste 
phens,  when  he  saw  Lee  for  the  first  time  and  pressed 
upon  him  the  question  as  to  Virginia's  joining  the  Con 
federacy,  beheld  a  personage  well  worthy  to  make  a 
great  decision  in  a  great  cause.  "As  he  stood  there, 
fresh  and  ruddy  as  a  David  from  the  sheepfold,  in  the 
prime  of  manly  beauty  and  the  embodiment  of  a  line  of 
heroic  and  patriotic  fathers  and  worthy  mothers,  it  was 
thus  I  first  saw  Robert  E.  Lee.  ...  I  had  before  me  the 
most  manly  and  entire  gentleman  I  ever  saw." 61 


24  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

How  many  men  have  we  all  met  who  seemed  built  to 
play  heroic  parts,  yet  did  not  and  could  not  play  them. 
It  is  well,  perhaps,  that  such  a  part  should  occasionally 
be  played  by  a  man  whom  nature  has  moulded  for  it. 


II 

THE  GREAT  DECISION 

THE  growth  of  a  Lee  legend  is  greatly  to  be  deplored, 
most  of  all  by  Lee's  warmest  admirers.  "One  may 
search  in  vain  for  any  defect  in  him,"  says  one  of  the 
latest  historians  of  the  war.  "  Indeed,  the  perfection  of 
Lee  becomes  somewhat  oppressive.  One  would  welcome 
the  discovery  of  a  shortcoming  in  him,  as  redeeming 
him  to  humanity."  l  This  is  unfair,  but  not  unnatural, 
when  one  considers  the  attitude  of  Lee's  Southern  ad 
mirers.  "  He  was  never  behind  time  at  his  studies,  never 
failed  in  a  single  recitation,  was  perfectly  observant  of 
the  rules  and  regulations  of  the  institution,"  says  an  old 
teacher.2  "Throughout  his  whole  student  life  he  per 
formed  no  act  which  his  pious  mother  could  not  have 
fully  approved,"  says  Long.3  I  do  not  believe  this  is 
true.  I  hope  it  is  not  true.  If  it  is  true,  it  ought  to  be 
concealed,  not  boasted  of.  This  is  the  sort  of  thing  that 
made  Washington  odious  to  the  young  and  remote  from 
the  mature  for  generations.  "  In  all  essential  character 
istics  Lee  resembled  Washington,"  says  Mr.  Rhodes,4 
with  much  justice.  But  we  know  that,  in  spite  of  ill- 
judged  idolatry,  Washington  was  not  a  prig.  Neither 
was  Lee,  but  a  man,  of  warm  flesh  and  blood,  like  the 
rest  of  us.  No  one  could  have  had  his  large  and  tender 


26  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

sympathy  for  human  weakness  who  had  not  known  hu 
man  weakness  himself.  Above  all,  from  the  common 
soldier  to  the  president  of  the  Confederacy  comes  gen 
eral  testimony  that  Lee  had  charm.  Now,  no  prig  ever 
had  charm.  Therefore  I  refuse  to  believe  that  he  said  — 
at  any  rate,  in  those  words  —  to  Magruder  in  Mexico : 
"  I  am  but  doing  my  duty,  and  with  me,  in  small  mat 
ters  as  well  as  in  large  ones,  duty  must  come  before 
pleasure."  5 

After  this  brief  reservation  and  protest,  it  must  be  re 
cognized  and  insisted  that  few  men  have  guided  their 
actions  more  strictly  and  loftily  by  conscience  than  Lee. 
That  he  should  ever  have  boasted  about  his  sense  of 
duty  is  unbelievable.  That  he  turned  to  it  and  con 
sulted  it  in  every  crisis,  and  especially  in  the  profound* 
est  crisis,  of  his  life,  is  certain,  and  whatever  we  may 
think  of  his  judgment,  it  is  impossible  to  question  the 
absolute  rectitude  of  his  purposes. 

During  the  years  of  violent  controversy  which  inter 
vened  between  the  Mexican  War  and  the  secession  of 
the  South,  Lee  attended  quietly  to  his  military  duties. 
Occasionally  in  the  published  letters  of  this  period  we 
get  a  glimpse  of  the  interest  he  must  have  taken  in  what 
was  going  on  at  Washington.  But  it  was  then  and  al 
ways  his  constant  conviction  that  a  soldier  should  not 
meddle  with  politics.  Even  when  he  had  charge  of  the 
capture  of  John  Brown  there  was  no  passion  in  the  mat 
ter.  The  work  was  done  with  military  precision  and 


THE  GREAT  DECISION  27 

quiet  coolness  and  the  captive  was  handed  over  to  the 
proper  civil  authorities.  "  I  am  glad  we  did  not  have  to 
kill  him,"  Lee  remarked  afterwards  to  Mrs.  Pickett's 
father,  "for  I  believe  he  is  an  honest,  conscientious  old 
man."  6 

As  the  struggle  of  parties  and  principles  grew  fiercer, 
however,  Lee  foresaw  that  sooner  or  later  he  should  be 
forced  to  choose.  Neither  party  satisfied  him.  Each 
seemed  to  be  unreasonable,  selfish,  inconsiderate  of  the 
rights  and  feelings  of  the  other ;  and  he  believed  that  a 
larger  justice  ought  to  be  able  to  harmonize  the  oppos 
ing  claims  without  actual  conflict.  In  December,  1860, 
he  writes :  "  Feeling  the  aggression  of  the  North,  re 
senting  their  denial  of  the  equal  rights  of  our  citizens  to 
the  common  territory  of  the  Commonwealth,  etc.,  I  am 
not  pleased  with  the  course  of  the  '  Cotton  States/  as 
they  term  themselves.  In  addition  to  their  selfish,  dicta 
torial  bearing,  the  threats  they  throw  out  against  the 
'  Border  States,'  as  they  call  them,  if  they  will  not  join 
them,  argues  little  for  the  benefit  or  peace  of  Virginia, 
should  she  determine  to  coalesce  with  them.  While  I 
wish  to  do  what  is  right,  I  am  unwilling  to  do  what  is 
wrong  at  the  bidding  of  the  South  or  of  the  North."  7 
And  again,  in  January,  1861,  "As  far  as  I  can  judge 
from  the  papers,  we  are  between  a  state  of  anarchy  and 
civil  war.  May  God  avert  from  us  both.  ...  I  see  that 
four  states  have  declared  themselves  out  of  the  Union. 
Four  more  apparently  will  follow  their  example.  Then 


28  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

if  the  border  states  are  dragged  into  the  gulf  of  revolu 
tion,  one  half  of  the  country  will  be  arrayed  against  the 
other,  and  I  must  try  and  be  patient  and  wait  the  end, 
for  I  can  do  nothing  to  hasten  or  retard  it."  8 

The  end  came  quickly.  Lincoln  was  elected.  Virginia 
was  on  the  point  of  seceding.  War  seemed  inevitable. 
If  Lee  remained  in  the  United  States  Army,  he  would  be 
forced  to  fight  against  all  he  loved  best  in  the  world. 
He  was  fifty  years  old.  For  more  than  thirty  years  he 
had  served  under  the  Stars  and  Stripes.  Honor,  advance 
ment,  profit  were  assured,  if  he  clung  to  his  old  alleg 
iance.  If  he  abandoned  it,  what  would  come  to  him  no 
one  could  tell.  It  is  hard  to  imagine  a  man  placed  in  a 
situation  involving  a  profounder  moral  struggle  or 
greater  difficulty  of  decision.  And,  though  Lee  doubt 
less  did  not  so  think  of  it,  the  decision  was  as  important 
to  the  country  as  to  himself.  Without  assuming,  with 
some  Northern  writers,  that  he  might  have  prevented 
Virginia's  secession  and  possibly  war,  it  is  not  unreason 
able  to  suppose  that  the  course  of  the  war  might  have 
been  greatly  different,  if  his  military  ability  had  been 
saved  to  the  armies  of  the  North. 

In  April,  1861,  Lee  was  awaiting  orders  at  Arlington. 
On  the  1 8th  of  that  month  he  had  an  interview  with 
Francis  P.  Blair,  who,  with  the  knowledge  of  Lincoln  and 
Cameron,  unofficially,  but  it  is  said  authoritatively,  offered 
him  the  command  of  the  United  States  Army,  in  the 
field.  We  have  Lee's  own  account  of  this  interview, 


THE  GREAT  DECISION  29 

written  after  the  war  and  agreeing  with  Blair's.  "I  never 
intimated  to  any  one  that  I  desired  the  command  of  the 
United  States  Army,  nor  did  I  ever  have  a  conversation 
with  but  one  gentleman,  the  Hon.  Francis  P.  Blair,  on 
the  subject,  which  was  at  his  invitation  and,  as  I  under 
stood,  at  the  instance  of  President  Lincoln.  After  listen 
ing  to  his  remarks,  I  declined  the  offer  he  made  me  to 
take  command  of  the  army  that  was  to  be  brought  into 
the  field,  stating  as  candidly  and  courteously  as  I  could 
that  though  opposed  to  secession  and  deprecating  war, 
I  could  take  no  part  in  an  invasion  of  the  Southern 
States."  9 

Immediately  on  leaving  Blair,  Lee  went  to  General 
Scott.  Unfortunately  we  have  no  detailed  account  of  this 
most  important  conversation  from  either  of  the  princi 
pals.  "  I  went  directly  from  the  interview  with  Mr.  Blair 
to  the  office  of  General  Scott,  told  him  of  the  proposition 
that  had  been  made  to  me,  and  my  decision,"  writes 
Lee.10  Long  tells  us,  from  a  very  indirect  source,  that 
General  Scott  "  used  every  argument  to  persuade  him 
to  remain  in  the  Union."  n  "  But  to  all  pleading  Colonel 
Lee  returned  but  one  answer,  that  his  sense  of  duty  was 
stronger  with  him  than  any  prospect  of  advancement, 
and  replied  to  the  appeal  not  to  resign  in  the  following 
words,  'I  am  compelled  to:  I  cannot  consult  my  own- 
feelings  in  the  matter.'  "  12 

The  narrative  of  the  only  eye  and  ear  witness  who 
seems  to  have  been  actually  present,  General  Townsend, 


30  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

exhibits  Lee  in  a  much  less  favorable  aspect.   It  is  so 
circumstantial  that  it  must  be  quoted  in  full :  — 

General  Scott  knew  that  he  [Lee]  was  at  Arlington  Heights, 
at  the  house  of  his  father-in-law,  Mr.  Custis,  and  one  day 
asked  me  if  I  had  seen  or  heard  of  him  lately.  I  replied  in  the 
negative,  except  that  he  was  on  leave  and  at  Arlington 
Heights.  Said  the  general,  "It  is  time  he  should  show  his 
hand  and  if  he  remains  loyal  should  take  an  important  com 
mand."  I  then  suggested  that  I  should  write  to  Lee  and  ask 
him  to  call  at  the  general's  headquarters.  "  I  wish  you  would," 
replied  the  general.  The  note  was  written  and  the  next  day, 
April  19,  1861,  Colonel  Lee  came  to  the  office.  The  general's 
was  the  front  room  of  the  second  story.  His  round  table 
stood  in  the  centre  of  the  room  and  I  had  a  desk  in  one 
corner.  The  aides  were  in  an  adjoining  room  with  a  door1 
opening  into  the  general's.  When  Lee  came  in,  I  was  alone  in 
the  room  with  the  general  and  the  door  to  the  aides'  room  was 
closed.  I  quietly  arose,  keeping  my  eye  on  the  general,  for  it 
seemed  probable  he  might  wish  to  be  alone  with  Lee.  He, 
however,  secretly  motioned  me  to  keep  my  seat  and  I  sat 
down  without  Lee  having  a  chance  to  notice  that  I  had  risen. 
The  general,  having  invited  Lee  to  be  seated,  the  following 
conversation,  as  nearly  as  I  can  remember,  took  place.  Gen. 
Scott:  "You  are  at  present  on  leave  of  absence,  Colonel 
Lee?"  —Col.  Lee:  "Yes,  General,  I  am  staying  with  my 
family  at  Arlington." — Gen.  Scott:  "These  are  times  when 
every  officer  in  the  United  States  service  should  fully  deter 
mine  what  course  he  will  pursue  and  frankly  declare  it.  No 
one  should  continue  in  government  employ  without  being  act 
ively  employed."  (No  response  from  Lee.)  —  Gen.  Scott 
(after  a  pause) :  "Some  of  the  Southern  officers  are  resigning, 


THE  GREAT   DECISION  31 

possibly  with  the  intention  of  taking  part  with  their  States. 
They  make  a  fatal  mistake.  The  contest  may  be  long  and  se 
vere,  but  eventually  the  issue  must  be  in  favor  of  the  Union." 
(Another  pause  and  no  reply  from  Lee.)  —  Gen.  Scott  (seeing 
evidently  that  Lee  showed  no  disposition  to  declare  himself 
loyal  or  even  in  doubt) :  "  I  suppose  you  will  go  with  the  rest. 
If  you  purpose  to  resign,  it  is  proper  you  should  do  so  at 
once;  your  present  attitude  is  an  equivocal  one."  —  Col.  Lee: 
"The  property  belonging  to  my  children,  all  they  possess, 
lies  in  Virginia.  They  will  be  ruined,  if  they  do  not  go  with 
their  State.  I  cannot  raise  my  hand  against  my  children."  13 

I  have  cited  the  whole  of  this  account,  because  it  is  a 
curious  instance  of  what  appears  to  be  reliable  historical 
evidence,  yet  must,  I  am  convinced,  be  substantially 
false.  In  the  first  place,  Townsend  says  April  19.  Lee 
says  explicitly,  writing  at  the  time,  April  18.  Next,  Lee 
says  he  told  General  Scott  of  the  proposition  that  had 
been  made  him  and  of  his  decision.  Nothing  of  the  sort 
appears  in  Townsend's  story.  Further,  Lee,  writing  to 
Mrs.  Lee  a  few  weeks  later,  bids  his  son  Custis  "  consult 
his  own  judgment,  reason,  and  conscience  as  to  the 
course  he  must  take," 14  which  does  not  seem  to  fit  well 
with  the  argument  that  his  children  would  "  be  ruined, 
if  they  do  not  go  with  their  State."  Finally,  a  very 
slight  knowledge  of  Lee's  character  makes  it  impossible 
to  suppose  that,  after  weeks  of  careful,  prayerful  de 
liberation  and  moral  conflict  in  view  of  the  highest 
patriotic  duties,  the  man  who  again  and  again  refused 
the  offers  of  a  grateful  nation  to  provide  for  his  family 


32  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

and  assure  them  from  want,  the  man  who  wrote  to  his 
son  in  the  midst  of  the  struggle  that  "all  must  be  sacri 
ficed  for  the  country,"  15  could  have  gone  to  a  personal 
friend  whom  he  respected  as  he  did  Scott,  with  nothing 
on  his  lips  but  the  poor,  the  paltry,  the  pitiful  argument 
for  deserting  his  flag  and  his  allegiance  that  the  property 
of  his  children  lay  in  Virginia.  It  is  true  that  Scott  was 
a  Virginian  and  Lee  had  to  be  careful  not  to  wound  his 
superior  in  justifying  himself.  But  no  man  ever  lived 
who  was  capable  of  handling  such  a  situation  with  more 
tact.  If  only  we  had  Scott's  and  Lee's  own  versions  of 
what  passed  between  them  on  that  memorable  day ! 16 

As  it  is,  we  merely  know  that  two  days  later  Lee  sent 
his  resignation  to  Scott,  with  an  affectionate  and  manly 
letter,  expressing  his  regret  at  separating  himself  from 
the  service  "  to  which  I  have  devoted  the  best  years  of 
my  life  and  all  the  ability  I  possessed,"  and  adding, 
"save  in  the  defense  of  my  native  State  I  never  desire 
again  to  draw  my  sword."  17  Immediately  after  this  he 
was  offered  and  accepted  the  position  of  commander-in- 
chief  of  the  forces  of  Virginia. 

In  considering  Lee's  conduct  at  this  crisis  it  is  a  mis 
take  to  tangle  one's  self  up  in  the  web  of  metaphysical 
casuistry  which  was  woven  about  the  whole  constitutional 
question  by  the  fine  wits  of  a  generation  of  legal  quib- 
blers.  Cold  common  sense  stands  amazed  that  men 
should  have  been  ready  to  cut  each  others'  throats  for 
the  ingenious  subtleties  of  Webster  and  Everett  any 


THE  GREAT  DECISION  33 

more  than  for  those  of  Calhoun  and  Davis.  It  seems  as 
if  mankind  would  not  learn  by  all  the  experience  of  ages 
that  passion  is  never  at  a  loss  for  argument,  or  appreci 
ate  the  force  of  Matthew  Arnold's  despairing  comment, 
"  by  such  reasoning  anything  may  be  made  out  of  any 
thing." 

The  technical  charge  that  Lee  has  to  answer,  the  one 
most  commonly  brought  against  him,  is  that,  having 
accepted  his  education  and  support  at  the  hands  of  the 
United  States  Government  and  sworn  allegiance  to  it, 
he  broke  his  military  oath  and  betrayed  his  trust.  This 
charge  is  said  to  have  been  discussed  by  Lee  himself. 
"  General  Lee  told  Bishop  Wilmer  of  Louisiana  that  if  it 
had  not  been  for  the  instruction  he  got  from  Rawle's 
text-book  at  West  Point,  he  would  not  have  joined  the 
South  and  left  the  old  army  at  the  breaking-out  of  the 
late  war  between  the  States."  18  Surely  Lee  cannot  be 
blamed  for  following  the  lessons  which  he  believed  the 
Government  itself  had  taught  him.  It  is  unfortunate, 
however,  that  this  speech  has  come  through  many 
mouths.  As  for  Rawle's  "View  of  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States  of  America,"  although  it  was  undoubt 
edly  in  use  during  a  portion  of  the  time  Lee  was  in  the 
Academy,  it  seems  impossible  that  it  can  have  been 
given  to  him  as  a  text-book.19  Rawle  was  an  ardent  sup 
porter  of  the  Union.  Yet  he  says,  "  This  right  [of  seces 
sion]  must  be  considered  as  an  ingredient  in  the  com 
position  of  the  general  government,  which,  though  not 


34  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

expressed,  was  mutually  understood,  and  the  doctrine 
heretofore  presented  to  the  reader,  in  regard  to  the  inde 
feasible  nature  of  personal  allegiance,  is  so  far  qualified 
in  respect  to  allegiance  to  the  United  States."  20  Such 
an  assertion  from  such  a  source  is  significant  of  the  state 
of  mind  of  many  Americans  in  the  second  quarter  of  the 
century  as  to  the  metaphysical  tangle  of  duties,  loyalties, 
allegiances,  to  which  I  referred  above,  and  which  was 
inevitable  in  view  of  the  peculiar  organization  of  the 
United  States  Government.  In  any  case,  it  cannot  be 
disputed  that  Lee  and  those  who  took  the  same  course 
he  did  were  influenced  by  an  imperious  conception  of 
duty  as  much  as  Scott,  Thomas,  and  the  many  others 
whose  action  was  most  honorably  different. 

When  the  decision  of  Lee  and  his  fellows  is  surveyed 
on  simpler,  broader  grounds,  one  or  two  general  consid 
erations  present  themselves.  In  a  popular  government, 
whenever  any  large,  distinct  section  of  the  people  thinks 
that  it  is  permanently  oppressed  by  the  remainder,  it 
will  revolt.  No  theory,  no  legal  argument,  no  paper  con 
stitution  will  ever  prevent  this.  And  in  a  government 
made  up  of  long-established,  originally  independent 
units,  as  imperfectly  welded  together  as  were  the  United 
States  in  1860,  such  a  revolt  is  peculiarly  liable  to  occur. 
It  is  true  that  the  North  then  felt,  and  probably  for  the 
most  part  feels  now,  that  the  South  was  not  oppressed. 
The  South  felt  that  it  was  oppressed  and  did  exactly 
what  the  North  would  have  done  under  the  same  circum- 


THE  GREAT  DECISION  35 

stances.  I  know  of  no  more  constant  lover  of  the  Union 
than  Washington.  Yet  Washington  wrote,  "There  is 
nothing  which  holds  one  country  or  one  State  to  another 
but  interest."  21 

This  general  justification  or  explanation  of  the  South 
ern  revolt  does  not,  however,  apply  to  the  case  of  Lee. 
For  up  to  the  very  hour  of  Virginia's  decision,  he  clung 
to  the  Union  and  was  opposed  to  secession,  at  any  rate, 
in  practice.  In  January,  1861,  he  wrote  :  "I  can  antici 
pate  no  greater  calamity  for  the  country  than  a  dissolu 
tion  of  the  Union.  It  would  be  an  accumulation  of  all 
the  evils  we  complain  of  and  I  am  willing  to  sacrifice 
everything  but  honor  for  its  preservation.  .  .  .  Secession 
is  nothing  but  revolution.  The  framers  of  our  Constitu 
tion  never  exhausted  so  much  labor,  wisdom,  and  for 
bearance  in  its  formation,  and  surrounded  it  with  so 
many  guards  and  securities,  if  it  was  intended  to  be 
broken  by  every  member  of  the  Confederation  at  will. 
It  was  intended  for  '  perpetual  union,'  so  expressed  in  the 
preamble"  -Lee,  of  course,  here  confounds  the  Con 
stitution  of  the  United  States  with  the  "Articles  of 
Confederation"  —  "and  for  the  establishment  of  a  gov 
ernment,  not  a  compact,  which  can  only  be  dissolved  by 
revolution  or  the  consent  of  all  the  people  in  convention 
assembled.  It  is  idle  to  talk  of  secession.  Anarchy  would 
have  been  established  and  not  a  government  by  Wash 
ington,  Hamilton,  Jefferson,  Madison,  and  the  other 
patriots  of  the  Revolution."  22 


36  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

Surely  neither  Webster  nor  Everett  ever  spoke  for 
Federal  Union  with  an  ardor  more  passionate  than  this. 
And  after  all  was  over,  Lee  testified  before  the  Commit 
tee  on  Reconstruction:  "I  may  have  said  and  I  may 
have  believed  that  the  position  of  the  two  sections  which 
they  held  to  each  other  was  brought  about  by  the  poli 
ticians  of  the  country ;  that  the  great  masses  of  the 
people,  if  they  understood  the  real  question,  would  have 
avoided  it.  ...  I  did  believe  at  the  time  that  it  was 
an  unnecessary  condition  of  affairs  and  might  have  been 
avoided,  if  forbearance  and  wisdom  had  been  practiced 
on  both  sides."  23 

It  will  at  once  be  asked,  why,  then,  did  Lee  leave  the 
Union  ?  Because  Virginia  left  it  and  he  felt  that  Virginia 
was  his  country.  And  I  cannot  see  how  any  citizen  of 
the  old  colonial  states,  with  all  the  memories  and  tradi 
tions  of  his  forefathers  in  his  heart  and  all  the  local  at 
tachments  and  fellowships  that  constitute  home,  can  fail 
even  now  to  sympathize  with  such  an  attitude.  "  No 
consideration  on  earth  could  induce  me  to  act  a  part, 
however  gratifying  to  me,  which  could  be  construed  into 
faithlessness  to  this  Commonwealth,"  24  wrote  Lee's 
father  to  Madison;  and  at  another  time  he  expressed 
himself  still  more  strongly :  "  Virginia  is  my  country ; 
her  I  will  obey,  however  lamentable  the  fate  to  which  it 
may  subject  me."  25  Longstreet,  in  describing  his  own 
decision,  tells  us  that  "a  number  of  officers  of  the  post 
called  to  persuade  me  to  remain  in  the  Union  service. 


THE  GREAT   DECISION  37 

Captain  Gibbs,  of  the  Mounted  Rifles,  was  the  principal 
talker,  and  after  a  long  and  pleasant  discussion,  I  asked 
him  what  course  he  would  pursue,  if  his  State  should 
pass  ordinances  of  secession  and  call  him  to  its  defense. 
He  confessed  that  he  would  obey  the  call."  26  Hon. 
Charles  Francis  Adams,  who  has  surely  done  more  than 
any  one  else  to  help  Lee  on  to  the  national  glory  which 
is  his  due,  said  in  his  Lee  Centennial  address,  "  I  hope 
I  should  have  been  filial  and  unselfish  enough  myself  to 
have  done  as  Lee  did."  27  Finally,  if  one  may  quote 
one's  own  feeling  as  perhaps  representative  of  many,  I 
do  not  hesitate  to  say  that  in  the  certainly  most  improb 
able,  but  perhaps  not  wholly  impossible,  contingency 
of  a  future  sectional  separation  in  the  country,  however 
much  I  might  disapprove  of  such  separation  and  its 
causes,  I  should  myself  be  first,  last,  and  always  a  son 
and  subject  of  New  England  and  of  Massachusetts. 

There  is  a  deeper  principle  involved  in  this  attitude 
than  the  mere  blind  instinct  of  what  the  French  call 
"  village-spire  patriotism,"  local  attachment  to  home, 
and  family,  and  birthplace.  When  the  Union  was  first 
established,  its  founders  had  an  intense  and  wholesome 
dread  of  centralized  power,  but  the  state  governments 
were  at  that  time  so  strong  and  the  federal  so  weak  that 
it  was  necessary  to  emphasize  the  latter  in  every  pos 
sible  way  in  order  to  sustain  it  at  all.  In  the  nature  of 
the  case,  however,  from  the  very  beginning  the  federal 
government  absorbed  more  and  more  power  to  itself  and 


38  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

the  states  tended  gradually  to  lose  even  the  authority 
which  had  originally  been  left  them.  In  one  sense  the 
Civil  War  was  a  protest  on  the  part  of  the  South  against 
this  evolution  and  an  attempt  to  restore  the  constitu 
tional  balance  as  the  men  of  1787  had  planned  it.  This 
protest  had  to  be  met,  had  to  be  crushed,  or  worse,  in 
calculable  evils  would  have  resulted.  But  the  failure  of 
it  much  increased  the  rapidity  of  the  evolution  already 
in  progress.  To-day  the  citizens  of  the  newer  states  and 
many  in  the  older  doubtless  look  upon  the  state  govern 
ments  as  an  antiquated  survival,  especially  as  this  very 
attitude  deteriorates  those  governments  and  everywhere 
breeds  incompetence  and  corruption.  Such  people  would 
sympathize  entirely  with  the  remark  of  a  writer  in  the 
"Outlook"  :  "Lee's  engrossing  sentiment  for  his  native 
State,  mildly  commendable  though  it  might  have  been, 
was  a  pinchbeck  thing."  28 

This  development  of  national  unity,  of  national  feel 
ing,  is  probably  inevitable,  is  in  many  ways  excellent 
and  admirable ;  but  it  has  its  very  grave  dangers  and  is 
in  itself  certainly  much  less  promising  for  the  future  of 
popular  government  than  the  careful  balance  of  local 
and  central  authority  for  which  the  Constitution  origin 
ally  provided.  Such,  at  any  rate,  was  the  opinion  of 
Lee,  reiterated  in  manifold  forms  all  through  the  war. 
He,  at  least,  felt,  with  the  most  earnest  conviction,  that 
he  was  fighting  for  the  ideas  of  Washington  and  Jeffer 
son,  and  that  in  his  place  they  would  have  done  as  he 


THE  GREAT  DECISION  39 

did.  "  I  had  no  other  guide,  nor  had  I  any  other  object 
than  the  defense  of  those  principles  of  American  liberty 
upon  which  the  constitutions  of  the  several  States  were 
originally  founded;  and  unless  they  are  strictly  ob 
served,  I  fear  there  will  be  an  end  to  Republican  gov 
ernment  in  this  country."  29  Again,  he  says  in  general 
orders:  "They  [the  Confederate  soldiers]  cannot  barter 
manhood  for  peace  nor  the  right  of  self-government  for 
life  or  property.  .  .  .  Let  us  then  oppose  constancy  to 
adversity,  fortitude  to  suffering,  and  courage  to  danger, 
with  the  firm  assurance  that  He  who  gave  freedom  to 
our  fathers  will  bless  the  efforts  of  their  children  to  pre 
serve  it."  30  And  at  the  close  of  the  war  he  is  said  to 
have  expressed  the  same  feeling  quite  as  explicitly  and 
solemnly :  "  We  had,  I  was  satisfied,  sacred  principles 
to  maintain  and  rights  to  defend,  for  which  we  were  in 
duty  bound  to  do  our  best,  even  if  we  perished  in  the 
endeavor."  31 

As  we  read  these  passionate  confessions  of  faith,  we 
come  almost  to  look  upon  Lee  as  one  of  the  great 
martyrs  of  liberty,  one  of  the  heroic  champions  of  free 
democracy  and  popular  government.  And  then  we  re 
flect  a  moment  and  say  to  ourselves,  was  not  this  man 
fighting  for  negro  slavery?  It  cannot  be  disputed  that 
he  was.  Southern  writers  may  quibble  as  they  please 
about  slavery  not  being  the  cause  of  the  war.  Nobody 
denies  that  there  were  other  causes,  many  of  them,  causes 
lying  deep  in  difference  of  climate,  difference  of  breed- 


40  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

ing,  difference  of  local  temperament.  But  no  one  can 
seriously  maintain  that  any  of  those  other  causes  or  all 
of  them  together  could  have  led  to  any  sectional  quarrel 
that  might  not  have  been  easily  settled,  if  it  had  not 
been  for  the  dark  phantom,  the  terrible  midnight  incubus 
of  slavery.  As  we  look  back  now,  we  all  see  that,  in  the 
words  attributed  to  Lincoln,  "the  people  of  the  North 
were  as  responsible  for  slavery  as  the  people  of  the 
South,"  32  and  that  honest,  noble,  pure  spirits  could  ad 
vocate  it  as  well  as  oppose  it.  We  are  all  ready  to  sym 
pathize  with  the  words  which  Lincoln  actually  wrote  : 
"  You  think  slavery  is  right  and  ought  to  be  extended  ; 
we  think  it  is  wrong  and  ought  to  be  restricted.  For  this, 
neither  has  any  just  occasion  to  be  angry  with  the 
other."  33  Nay,  more,  the  abolitionists  of  the  sixties  went 
at  their  problem  gayly,  confident  that  if  the  negro  were 
once  free,  all  would  be  well.  Forty  years  have  taught 
us  better,  until  some  are  almost  ready  to  cry  out  that  the 
South  was  right  and  the  North  wrong.  It  is  not  so.  The 
future  must  take  care  of  itself.  The  nineteenth  century 
made  many  mistakes.  But  it  showed  once  for  all  that 
the  modern  world  can  never  again  have  anything  to  do 
with  slavery.  "  I  advise  Senators  to  let  the  humane  cur 
rent  of  an  advancing  and  Christian  civilization  spread 
over  this  continent,"  said  Henry  Wilson.  Senators  and 
other  persons  who  fought  on  the  side  of  slavery  had 
their  backs  to  the  light  and  their  faces  turned  toward 
outer  darkness. 


THE  GREAT  DECISION  41 

It  will  immediately  be  urged  that  Lee  was  no  advo 
cate  of  slavery.  This  cannot  be  denied.  It  is  true  that 
his  attitude  towards  the  negro  was  distinctly  the  South 
ern  attitude,  and,  it  must  also  be  added,  that  of  most 
Northerners  who  live  long  in  the  South.  "  I  have  always  I 
observed  that  wherever  you  find  the  negro,  everything  I 
is  going  down  around  him,  and  wherever  you  find  the 
white  man,  you  see  everything  around  him  improv 
ing."  34  "  You  will  never  prosper  with  the  blacks,"  he 
writes  to  his  son  after  the  war,  "  and  it  is  abhorrent  to  a 
reflecting  mind  to  be  supporting  and  cherishing  those 
who  are  plotting  and  working  for  your  injury  and  all  of 
whose  sympathies  and  associations  are  antagonistic  to 
yours.  I  wish  them  no  evil  in  the  world  —  on  the  con 
trary,  will  do  them  every  good  in  my  power,  and  know 
that  they  are  misled  by  those  to  whom  they  have  given  ( 
their  confidence ;  but  our  material,  social,  and  political 
interests  are  with  the  whites."  35  Furthermore,  he  had  no 
sympathy  with  the  Northern  abolitionists  and  believed 
that  they  were  working  in  utter  ignorance  of  actual  con 
ditions  as  well  as  with  a  disposition  to  meddle  where 
they  had  no  legal  or  moral  right  to  interfere.  He  even 
went  so  far  as  to  write,  toward  the  very  close  of  the  war, 
that  he  considered  "  the  relation  of  master  and  slave,  | 
controlled  by  humane  laws  and  influenced  by  Christ 
ianity  and  an  enlightened  public  sentiment,  as  the  best 
that  can  exist  between  the  white  and  black  races  while 
intermingled  as  at  present  in  this  country."  36 


42  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

This  passage  does  not'  appear  in  the  Southern  bio 
graphies  of  Lee,  and  it  can  be  justly  interpreted  only  as 
a  partial  utterance  in  view  of  a  most  complicated  and 
difficult  problem.  For  that  Lee  himself  disliked  and  de 
tested  slavery  there  can  be  no  possible  doubt.  The  few 
slaves  that  ever  belonged  to  him  personally  he  set  free 
long  before  the  war,  and  he  took  time  in  the  very  thick 
of  his  military  duties  to  arrange  at  the  appointed  date 
for  the  emancipation  of  those  who  had  been  left  to  his 
wife  by  her  father.  Before  the  war,  also,  he  expressed 
himself  on  the  general  subject  in  the  most  explicit  way : 
•  "  In  this  enlightened  age  there  are  few,  I  believe,  but 
will  acknowledge  that  slavery,  as  an  institution,  is  a 
moral  and  political  evil  in  any  country. "  37  The  very  let 
ter  from  which  I  quoted  above  as  to  the  benefits  of  the 
relation  between  master  and  slave  was  written  to  urge 
gradual  abolition  as  a  reward  for  faithful  military  serv 
ice,  and  some  remarks  attributed  to  Lee  after  the  war 
form  a  valuable  comment  on  his  pro-slavery  utterance, 
especially  in  view  of  all  that  has  come  and  gone  in  the 
last  forty  years.  "  The  best  men  of  the  South  have  long 
desired  to  do  away  with  the  institution  and  were  quite 
willing  to  see  it  abolished.  But  with  them  in  relation  to 
this  subject  the  question  has  ever  been  :  What  will  you 
do  with  the  freed  people  ?  That  is  the  serious  question 
to-day.  Unless  some  humane  course,  based  upon  wisdom 
and  Christian  principles,  is  adopted,  you  do  them  a  great 
injustice  in  setting  them  free."  38 


THE  GREAT  DECISION  43 

Yet,  after  all,  in  fighting  for  the  Confederacy  Lee  was 
fighting  for  slavery,  and  he  must  have  known  perfectly 
well  that  if  the  South  triumphed  and  maintained  its  in 
dependence,  slavery  would  grow  and  flourish  for  another 
generation,  if  not  for  another  century.  And  it  is  precisely 
this  network  of  moral  conditions  that  makes  his  heroic 
struggle  so  pathetic,  so  appealing,  so  irresistibly  human. 
For  the  great  tragedies  of  human  life  and  history  come 
from  the  intermingling  of  good  and  evil.  And  Lee  is  one 
of  the  most  striking,  one  of  the  noblest  tragic  figures  the 
world  ever  produced.  Matthew  Arnold  says  that  the 
Puritans,  fighting  for  English  liberty,  put  the  human 
spirit  in  prison  for  two  hundred  years.39  This  man,  fight 
ing,  as  he  believed,  for  freedom,  for  independence,  for 
democracy,  was  fighting  also  to  rivet  the  shackles  more 
firmly  on  millions  of  his  fellow  men.  A  most  striking 
passage  in  Burke's  "Conciliation"  brings  out  this  con 
trast  with  a  prophetic  force  which  no  after-comment  can 
equal :  — 

There  is,  however,  a  circumstance  attending  these  colonies, 
which,  in  my  opinion,  fully  counterbalances  this  difference 
and  makes  the  spirit  of  liberty  still  more  high  and  haughty 
than  in  those  to  the  northward.  It  is,  that  in  Virginia  and  the 
Carolinas  they  have  a  vast  multitude  of  slaves.  Where  this  is 
the  case  in  any  part  of  the  world,  those  who  are  free  are  by  far 
the  most  proud  and  jealous  of  their  freedom.  .  .  .  Not  seeing 
there,  that  freedom,  as  in  countries  where  it  is  a  common 
blessing,  and  as  broad  and  general  as  the  air,  may  be  united 
with  much  abject  toil,  with  great  misery,  with  all  the  exterior 


44  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

of  servitude,  liberty  looks,  amongst  them,  like  something  that 
is  more  noble  and  liberal.  I  do  not  mean,  Sir,  to  commend  the 
superior  morality  of  this  sentiment,  which  has  at  least  as 
much  pride  as  virtue  in  it;  but  I  cannot  alter  the  nature  of 
man.  The  fact  is  so ;  and  these  people  of  the  Southern  colonies 
are  much  more  strongly  and  with  a  higher  and  more  stubborn 
spirit  attached  to  liberty  than  those  to  the  northward.40 

In  Lee,  no  pride,  but  virtue  all ;  not  liberty  for  himself 
alone,  but  for  others,  for  every  one.  And  this  it  is  that 
makes  the  tragedy  of  his  career  so  large,  so  fatal,  so 
commanding  in  its  grandeur. 

One  element  which,  since  Hamlet,  we  consider  pecul 
iarly  tragic,  is,  however,  wanting  in  Lee.  There  is  no 
trace  of  irresolution  in  him,  no  faltering,  no  looking 
back.  We  have  indirectly  from  Mrs.  Lee  her  account  of 
the  way  in  which  the  first  decision  was  made.  "The 
night  his  letter  of  resignation  was  to  be  written,  he 
asked  to  be  left  alone  for  a  time,  and  while  he  paced  the 
chamber  above,  and  was  heard  frequently  to  fall  upon 
his  knees  and  engage  in  prayer  for  divine  guidance,  she 
waited  and  watched  and  prayed  below.  At  last  he  came 
down,  calm,  collected,  almost  cheerful,  and  said,  '  Well, 
Mary,  the  question  is  settled.  Here  is  my  letter  of  resig 
nation  and  a  letter  I  have  written  to  General  Scott/  "  41 
The  question  was  settled  —  finally,  and  in  all  his  corre 
spondence  or  recorded  conversation  there  is  nothing 
to  indicate  regret  or  even  further  doubt.  "  Trusting  in 
God,  an  approving  conscience,  and  the  aid  of  my  fellow 


THE  GREAT  DECISION  45 

citizens,"  he  accepted  the  command  of  the  armies  of  Vir 
ginia  ;  and  as  the  war  progressed,  his  zeal  for  the  cause 
and  loyalty  to  his  high  ideals  seemed  to  be  ever  on  the 
increase. 

Not  that  he  showed  any  bitterness  towards  the  enemy. 
Or  at  least  it  is  only  at  moments  that  the  unavoidable 
horror  of  war  wrings  from  him  a  word  of  reproach  or 
condemnation,  as  when  he  says  of  the  obstruction  of 
Charleston  Harbor,  "  This  achievement,  so  unworthy  of 
any  nation,  is  the  abortive  expression  of  the  malice  and 
revenge  of  a  people  which  it  wishes  to  perpetuate  by 
rendering  more  hateful  a  day  memorable  in  their  calen 
dar,"  42  or  speaks  of  the  "  savage  and  brutal  policy  which 
he  [Milroy]  has  proclaimed,  which  leaves  us  no  alterna 
tive  but  success  or  degradation  worse  than  death,  if  we 
would  save  the  honor  of  our  families  from  pollution,  our 
social  system  from  destruction."  43  His  general  tone  in 
referring  to  "  those  people,"  as  he  almost  always  called 
the  Northern  soldiers,  is  wholly  in  the  spirit  of  his  own 
admirable  saying,  "the  better  rule  is  to  judge  our  adver 
saries  from  their  standpoint,  not  from  ours."  44 

But  over  and  over  again,  to  his  family,  to  his  friends, 
to  his  army,  he  expresses  his  pride  in  the  cause  he  has 
adopted,  his  absolute  belief  in  its  nobility  and  justice, 
his  unyielding  determination  to  fight  for  it,  so  long  as 
any  fighting  is  possible.  "  Let  each  man  resolve  that  the 
right  of  self-government,  liberty,  and  peace  shall  find  in 
him  a  defender,"  he  says  to  his  soldiers  in  the  early 


46  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

days, 4B  and  commends  to  them  "  the  sacred  cause,  dearer 
than  life  itself,  of  defending  the  honor  and  integrity  of 
the  State."  46  At  the  climax  of  the  struggle,  with  the 
bright  hope  of  success  before  him,  he  consoles  them  for 
their  dangers  :  "  The  country  consents  to  the  loss  of  such 
men  as  these  and  the  gallant  soldiers  who  fell  with  them, 
only  to  secure  the  inestimable  blessings  they  died  to 
obtain."  47  And  at  the  last  bitter  parting  he  assures  them 
that  "You  will  take  with  you  the  satisfaction  that  pro 
ceeds  from  the  consciousness  of  duty  faithfully  per 
formed."  48  So,  in  reviewing  his  own  private  conduct, 
when  all  is  over,  he  cannot  blame  his  choice  or  regret 
his  decision.  "  All  that  the  South  has  ever  desired  was 
that  the  Union,  as  established  by  our  forefathers,  should 
be  preserved  and  that  the  government  as  originally  or 
ganized,  should  be  administered  in  purity  and  truth."  49 
Or  again,  more  solemnly,  "  I  did  only  what  my  duty  de 
manded.  I  could  have  taken  no  other  course  without 
dishonor.  And  if  it  were  all  to  be  done  over  again,  I 
should  act  in  precisely  the  same  manner."  50 

Finally,  it  is  to  be  noted  that  Lee's  conduct  from  be 
ginning  to  end  was  absolutely  free  from  all  thought  of 
personal  credit  or  advantage.  He  declined  the  highest 
standing  in  his  profession  for  what  was,  to  say  the  least, 
a  dim  uncertainty.  He  was  fifty-four  years  old,  and  such 
dreams  of  glory  as  he  may  ever  have  cherished  had 
doubtless  long  faded  in  the  hope  of  peace.  One  consider 
ation,  and  one  only,  the  desire  to  do  right,  prompted  him 


THE  GREAT  DECISION  47 

in  all  he  undertook  and  in  all  he  accomplished.  Doubt 
less,  the  same  thing  might  be  said  of  many  a  private 
soldier,  North  and  South  both  ;  but  Lee's  exalted  posi 
tion  gives  his  action  a  typical  significance  which  cannot 
attach  to  that  of  every  one.  And  when  the  fearful  failure 
came,  when  all  things  were  sinking  to  wreck  and  ruin 
about  him,  though  his  heart  was  torn  for  the  sufferings 
of  his  people,  for  his  own  lot  there  was  nothing  but 
superb  tranquillity,  a  calm,  unyielding,  heroic  self-control, 
which  rested  upon  the  consciousness  that  he  had  done 
what  man  could  do  and  all  the  rest  was  God's.  He 
might  have  used  the  splendid  words  of  Demosthenes : 
"  I  say  that  if  the  event  had  been  manifest  to  the  whole 
world  beforehand,  not  even  then  ought  Athens  to  have 
forsaken  this  course,  if  Athens  had  any  regard  for  her 
glory,  or  for  her  past,  or  for  the  ages  to  come."  But  he 
had  words  of  his  own,  as  apt,  perhaps  as  splendid,  as 
those  of  Demosthenes,  the  well-known  and  often  quoted, 
"  Duty  is  the  sublimest  word  in  the  language  "  ;  51  the  less 
well-known  but  not  less  noble,  "  There  is  a  true  glory 
and  a  true  honor,  the  glory  of  duty  done,  the  honor  of 
the  integrity  of  principle  "  ; 52  best  of  all  the  grandly  tragic 
phrase,  addressed  to  his  son,  which  forms  the  most  pre 
fect  comment  on  his  own  career,  "  I  know  that  wherever 
you  may  be  placed,  you  will  do  your  duty.  That  is  all 
the  pleasure,  all  the  comfort,  all  the  glory  we  can  enjoy 
in  this  world."  53 


Ill 

LEE  AND  DAVIS 

IT  will  hardly  be  disputed  that  Lee  and  Davis  are  by  far 
the  most  prominent  figures  in  the  history  of  the  Confed 
eracy.  Stephens  and  Benjamin,  Johnston  and  Beaure- 
gard,  are  not  to  be  named  with  them.  Jackson  might 
have  been  a  conspicuous  third ;  but  his  premature  death 
left  him  only  a  peculiar  and  separate  glory. 

Material,  of  a  sort,  for  the  study  of  Davis' s  character 
is  more  than  abundant.  His  own  work,  "  The  Rise  and 
Fall  of  the  Confederate  Government,"  is  one  of  the  nu 
merous  books  that  carefully  avoid  telling  us  what  we 
wish  to  know.  Half  of  it  is  ingenious  argument  on  the 
abstract  dead  questions  at  issue.  The  other  half  is  a  his 
tory  of  military  matters  which  others  have  told  often  and 
told  better.  Of  administrative  complications  and  diffi 
culties,  of  the  internal  working  of  the  Confederate  Gov 
ernment,  of  personalities  at  Richmond  and  the  Rich 
mond  atmosphere,  of  the  inner  life  and  struggles  of  the 
man  himself,  hardly  a  word.  Happily  we  have  Mrs.  Da- 
vis's  "  Life"  of  her  husband,  which  shows  him  complete, 
if  not  exactly  as  Mrs.  Davis  saw  him.  We  have  other 
biographies  of  less  value,  innumerable  references  in  let 
ters  and  memoirs  of  friends  and  enemies,  and  the  con 
stant  comments  of  the  public  press.  And  we  have  the 


JEFFERSON   DAVIS 


LEE  AND   DAVIS  49 

immense  mass  of  correspondence  in  that  national  por 
trait  gallery,  the  "  Official  Records,"  where  the  great  — 
and  little  —  men  of  a  generation  have  drawn  their  own 
likenesses  with  an  art  as  perfect  as  it  is  unconscious. 

Davis,  then,  was  a  scholar  and  a  thinker,  and  to  some 
extent  he  took  the  bookish  view  of  life,  that  it  can  be 
made  what  we  wish  it  to  be.  Compromise  with  men  and 
things  was  to  be  avoided,  if  possible.  He  was  an  orator, 
a  considerable  orator,  after  the  fashion  of  the  mid-nine 
teenth  century,  which  bores  us  now,  at  any  rate  in  the 
reading.  The  orator  in  politics,  though  a  naturally  re 
curring  figure  in  a  democratic  society,  is  too  apt  to  be 
an  unsatisfactory  one,  —  witness  Cicero.  Davis  never 
laid  aside  his  robes  of  rhetoric  in  public.  I  doubt  if  he 
did  in  private.  I  think  he  wore  them  in  his  soul.  His 
passion  was  rhetoric,  his  patriotism  was  rhetoric,  his  wit 
was  rhetoric,  perfectly  genuine,  there  is  no  doubt  of 
that,  but  always  falling  into  a  form  that  would  impress 
others  —  and  himself.  He  told  Dr.  Craven  that  he  could 
not  "  conceive  how  a  man  so  oppressed  with  care  as  Mr. 
Lincoln  was  could  have  any  relish  for  such  pleasant 
ries."  1  There  you  have  the  difference  between  the  two. 

Doubtless  Davis  had  many  excellent  practical  qual 
ities.  For  one  thing,  he  had  pluck,  splendid  pluck,  moral 
and  physical.  It  was  indeed,  I  imagine,  rather  pluck  of 
the  high-strung,  nervous  order  than  the  cool,  collected 
calmness  of  Lee  or  Grant.  There  again  is  the  difference 
in  types.  Nevertheless,  Davis's  pluck  is  beyond  ques- 


50  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

tion.  He  had  consistency,  too,  knew  his  ideas  and  stuck 
to  them,  had  persistency.  "He  was  an  absolutely  frank, 
direct,  and  positive  man,"  said  General  Breckinridge.2 
And  he  was  sincere  in  his  purposes,  as  well  as  consist 
ent.  "As  God  is  my  judge,  I  never  spoke  from  any 
other  motive  [than  conviction],"  he  told  Seward.3  Be 
yond  question  he  told  the  truth.  He  was  unselfish,  too, 
thoughtful  of  others  and  ready  to  make  sacrifices  for 
them.  "  He  displayed  more  self-abnegation  than  any 
other  human  being  I  have  ever  known,"  says  one  of  his 
aides 4  and  the  statement  is  abundantly  confirmed. 

But  in  everything  he  was  a  nervous  sensitive,  which 
is  a  terrible  handicap  to  a  leader  of  men.  He  suffered 
always  with  nervous  dyspepsia  and  neuralgia  and 
"came  home  from  his  office  fasting,  a  mere  mass  of 
throbbing  nerves  and  perfectly  exhausted."  5  He  shrank 
from  the  sight  of  every  form  of  suffering,  even  in  imagin 
ation.  When  the  "Babes  in  the  Wood"  was  first  read 
to  him,  a  grown  man,  in  time  of  sickness,  he  would  not 
endure  the  horror  of  it.6  His  sympathy  with  the  op 
pressed  was  also  intense,  "so  that,"  says  Mrs.  Davis,  "it 
was  a  difficult  matter  to  keep  order  with  children  and 
servants."  7  He  was  keenly  susceptible  to  the  atmo 
sphere  about  him,  especially  to  the  moods  of  people,  "  ab 
normally  sensitive  to  disapproval.  Even  a  child's  disap 
proval  discomposed  him."  8  And  Mrs.  Davis  admits  that 
this  sensitiveness  and  acute  feeling  of  being  misjudged 
made  him  reserved  and  unapproachable.  It  made  him 


LEE  AND   DAVIS  51 

touchy  as  to  his  dignity,  also,  and  there  are  stories  of 
his  cherishing  a  grudge  for  some  insignificant  or  imag 
ined  slight  and  punishing  the  author  of  it.9 

The  same  sensitive  temperament  appears  in  Davis' s 
spiritual  life.  That  he  should  seek  and  find  the  hand  of 
Providence  in  temporal  affairs  is  surely  not  to  his  dis 
credit.  But  I  feel  that  his  religion  occasionally  intrudes 
at  the  wrong  time  and  in  the  wrong  way.  When  his 
enemies  represented  him  as  "  standing  in  a  corner  tell 
ing  his  beads  and  relying  on  a  miracle  to  save  the 
country," 10  I  know  they  exaggerated,  but  I  understand 
what  they  meant. 

Altogether,  one  of  those  subtle,  fine,  high-wrought 
nervous  organizations,  which  America  breeds,  a  trifle  too 
fine,  consuming  in  superb  self-control  too  much  of  what 
ought  to  be  active,  practical,  beneficent  energy. 

It  will  easily  be  imagined  that  such  a  temper  would 
not  always  get  along  comfortably  with  rough,  practical, 
imperious  military  men,  accustomed  to  regard  civil  au 
thority  with  contempt.  That  Davis  had  had  military 
experience  himself,  both  in  the  field  and  as  Secretary  of 
War,  did  not  help  matters  much,  since  it  greatly  in 
creased  his  own  self-confidence.  Subordinate  officers, 
such  as  Stuart,  Longstreet,  and  Jackson  during  the  latter 
part  of  his  career,  did  not  have  many  direct  dealings 
with  the  President.  But  the  independent  commanders  fall 
generally  into  two  classes,  those  like  Bragg,  Pemberton, 
and  Hood,  who  were  more  or  less  unfit  for  their  posi- 


52  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

tions  and  retained  them  through  Davis' s  personal  favor, 
and  those  who  were  able  and  popular  but  whom  Davis 
could  not  endure,  like  Joseph  E.  Johnston  and  Beaure- 
gard.  Albert  Sidney  Johnston  seems  to  have  been  both  a 
favorite  and  a  great  soldier,  but  untimely  death  blighted 
Davis' s  choice  in  that  instance. 

The  quarrel  with  J.  E.  Johnston  shook  the  whole  fabric 
of  the  Confederacy,  since  the  omnipotent  editors  took 
part  in  it.  Johnston  was  a  good  general  and  an  honest 
man ;  but  he  was  surly  with  a  superior  and  his  corres 
pondence  and  his  book  are  querulous.  Davis  is  not 
querulous  and  his  references  to  Johnston  are  always  dig 
nified.  Mrs.  Davis  assures  us  that  "  in  the  whole  period 
of  his  official  relations  to  General  Johnston  I  never  heard 
him  utter  a  word  in  derogation."  u  She  tells  us  also, 
however,  that  "  every  shade  of  feeling  that  crossed  the 
minds  of  those  about  him  was  noticed  and  he  could  not 
bear  any  one  to  be  inimical  to  him."  12  Persons  of  this 
temper  always  exaggerate  enmity  where  it  exists  and 
imagine  it  where  it  does  not.  Another  of  Mrs.  Davis's 
priceless  observations  is  as  to  "  the  talent  for  governing 
men  without  humiliating  them,  which  Mr.  Davis  had  in 
an  eminent  degree."  13  Samples  of  this  were  doubtless 
the  indorsement  "  insubordinate "  on  one  of  Johnston's 
grumbling  letters  and  the  reply  to  another,  "The 
language  of  your  letter  is,  as  you  say,  unusual ;  its  argu 
ment  and  statement  utterly  one-sided,  and  its  insinua 
tions  as  unfounded  as  they  are  unbecoming."  14  Compare 


LEE  AND   DAVIS  53 

also  the  indorsement  on  a  letter  in  which  Beauregard,  a 
gentleman,  an  excellent  soldier,  and  a  true  patriot,  who 
had  long  held  independent  command,  wrote  that  he  was 
perfectly  ready  to  serve  under  Lee :  "  I  did  not  doubt 
the  willingness  of  General  Beauregard  to  serve  under 
any  general  who  ranked  him.  The  right  of  General  Lee 
to  command  would  be  derived  from  his  superior  rank."  15 

And  so  we  come  to  the  case  of  Lee,  who  during  the 
last  years  of  the  war  was  universally  recognized  as  the 
greatest  general  and  most  popular  man  in  the  Confed 
eracy  and  who  held  Davis's  confidence  and  intimate 
affection  from  the  beginning  to  the  end.  "  General  R.  E. 
Lee  was  the  only  man  who  was  permitted  to  enter  the 
Cabinet  [meetings]  unannounced,"  says  the  official  who 
secured  the  privacy  of  those  august  assemblies.16 

How  did  Lee  manage  to  retain  his  hold  on  the  Presi 
dent?  Pollard,  who  admired  Lee,  but  detested  Davis 
more,  says  plainly  that  the  general  employed  "  compli 
ment  and  flattery."  17  This  is  an  abuse  of  words.  One 
can  no  more  associate  flattery  with  Lee  than  with  Wash 
ington.  Lee  respected  and  admired  Davis  in  many  ways, 
With  that  fine  insight  into  character  which  was  one  of 
his  strongest  points,  the  general  appreciated  the  Presi 
dent's  peculiarities  and  adapted  himself  to  them  for  the 
sake  of  the  cause  to  which  he  had  devoted  his  life.  Davis 
required  deference,  respect,  subordination.  Lee  felt  that 
these  were  military  duties  and  he  was  ready  to  accord 
them.  He  defends  Davis  to  others,  —  "  The  President 


54  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

from  his  position  being  able  to  survey  all  the  scenes  of 
action,  can  better  decide  than  any  one  else."  18  He  defers 
again  and  again  to  Davis's  opinion  :  "  Should  you  think 
proper  to  concentrate  the  troops  near  Richmond,  I 
should  be  glad  if  you  would  advise  me."  19  On  many 
occasions  he  expresses  a  desire  for  Davis's  presence  in 
the  field :  "  I  need  not  say  how  glad  I  should  be  if  your 
convenience  would  permit  you  to  visit  the  army,  that  I 
might  have  the  benefit  of  your  advice  and  direction."  20 
Those  know  but  little  of  Lee  who  see  in  such  passages  any 
thing  but  the  frank,  simple  modesty  of  the  man's  nature, 
or  who  read  a  double  meaning  into  expressions  like  the 
following  :  "  While  I  should  feel  the  greatest  satisfaction 
in  having  an  interview  with  you  and  consultation  upon 
all  subjects  of  interest,  I  cannot  but  feel  great  uneasiness 
for  your  safety,  should  you  undertake  to  reach  me."  21 
The  solicitude  was  perfectly  genuine,  as  we  see  from 
many  charming  manifestations  of  it  elsewhere.  "  I  can 
not  express  the  concern  I  felt  at  leaving  you  in  such 
feeble  health,  with  so  many  anxious  thoughts  for  the 
welfare  of  the  whole  Confederacy  weighing  upon  your 
mind."  22  And  there  is  no  doubt  that  sucn  sympathetic 
affection  held  the  president  more  than  even  the  most 
exaggerated  military  deference. 

At  the  same  time,  it  is  certain  that  Davis  liked  to  be 
consulted.  He  had  a  considerable  opinion  of  his  own 
military  gifts  and  would  probably  have  preferred  the 
command  of  the  armies  in  the  field  to  the  presidency, 


LEE  AND   DAVIS  55 

although  Ropes,  the  best  of  judges,  tells  us  that  he  did 
not  "show  himself  the  possessor  of  military  ability  to 
any  notable  extent,"  23  and  Grant  slyly  remarks  that  "  on 
several  occasions  during  the  war  he  came  to  the  relief 
of  the  Union  armies  by  his  superior  military  genius."  24 
His  jealousy  of  independent  command  sometimes  ap 
pears  even  with  regard  to  Lee.  "  I  have  never  compre 
hended  your  views  and  purposes  until  the  receipt  of 
your  letter  yesterday  and  now  have  to  regret  that  I  did 
not  earlier  know  all  that  you  have  now  communicated 
to  others."  25  Perhaps  the  most  delightful  instance  of 
Davis' s  confidence  in  his  own  talents  as  a  general  is  the 
little  indiscretion  of  Mrs.  Davis.  "  Again  and  again  he 
said  [before  Gettysburg],  '  If  I  could  take  one  wing  and 
Lee  the  other,  I  think  we  could  between  us  wrest  a  vic 
tory  from  those  people.' "  26  One  says  these  things  to 
one's  wife ;  but  I  doubt  if  Davis  would  have  wished  that 
repeated  —  yet  perhaps  he  would. 

With  all  this  in  mind,  it  is  easy  to  understand  Lee's 
procedure  and  to  see  the  necessity  as  well  as  the  wisdom 
of  it.  He  was  never  free.  In  the  early  days  he  writes 
almost  as  Davis's  clerk.  To  the  end  his  most  important 
communications  are  occasionally  inspired  by  his  superior, 
to  the  very  wording.  This  subordination  is  trying  at 
times  to  Lee's  greatest  admirers.  Captain  Battine  says, 
"  It  was  the  commander-in-chief  who  had  constantly  to 
stir  up  the  energy  of  the  president."  27  Colonel  Hender 
son,  whose  admirable  judgment  is  always  to  be  re- 


56  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

spected,  thinks  Davis's  policy  was  the  cause  of  the 
failure  to  fight  on  the  North  Anna  instead  of  at  Fred- 
ericksburg,  and  he  adds  more  generally,  "  A  true  esti 
mate  of  Lee's  genius  is  impossible,  for  it  can  never  be 
known  to  what  extent  his  designs  were  thwarted  by  the 
Confederate  Government.  Lee  served  Davis  ;  Jackson 
served  Lee,  wisest  and  most  helpful  of  masters."  28  It 
seems  to  me,  however,  that  Lee's  genius  showed  in 
overcoming  Davis  as  well  as  in  overcoming  the  enemy. 
One  of  the  most  curious  instances  of  Lee's  sensitive 
deference  to  the  president  as  his  military  superior  has,  so 
far  as  I  have  discovered,  remained  unnoticed  by  all  the 
historians  and  biographers.  On  August  8,  1863,  a  month 
after  Gettysburg,  Lee  wrote  the  beautiful  letter  in  which 
he  urged  that  some  one  more  capable  should  be  put  in 
his  place  (italics  mine) :  — 

I  know  how  prone  we  are  to  censure  and  how  ready  to  blame 
others  for  the  non-fulfillment  of  our  expectations.  This  is 
unbecoming  in  a  generous  people,  and  I  grieve  to  see  its  ex 
pression.  The  general  remedy  for  the  want  of  success  in  a  mili 
tary  commander  is  his  removal.  I  have  been  prompted  by  these 
reflections  more  than  once  since  my  return  form  Pennsyl 
vania  to  propose  to  Your  Excellency  the  propriety  of  selecting 
another  commander  for  this  army.  I  have  seen  and  heard  of 
expression  of  discontent  in  the  public  journals  at  the  result  of 
the  expedition.  I  do  not  know  how  far  this  feeling  extends  in 
the  army.  My  brother  officers  have  been  too  kind  to  report  it, 
and  so  far  the  troops  have  been  too  generous  to  exhibit  it.  It 
is  fair,  however,  to  suppose  that  it  does  exist,  and  success  is  so 


LEE  AND   DAVIS  57 

necessary  to  us  that  nothing  should  be  risked  to  secure  it.  I, 
therefore,  in  all  sincerity,  request  Your  Excellency  to  take 
measures  to  supply  my  place.  I  do  this  with  the  more  earnest 
ness  because  no  one  is  more  aware  than  myself  of  my  inabil 
ity  for  the  duties  of  my  position.  I  cannot  even  accomplish 
what  I  myself  desire.  How  can  I  fulfill  the  expectations  of 
others?  29 

It  has  been,  I  believe,  universally  assumed  by  Lee's 
biographers  that  this  proposal  of  resignation  was  the 
result  of  his  devoted  patriotism  and  of  temporary  dis 
couragement  caused  by  press  and  other  criticism  of  the 
Gettysburg  failure.  Such  criticism  there  doubtless  was  ; 
but  it  was  so  restrained  by  the  deep-rooted  confidence  in 
Lee's  character  and  ability  that  it  appears  mild  in  com 
parison  with  the  attacks  on  Davis  himself  and  on  other 
generals.  Without  any  reflection  on  Lee's  patriotism, 
which  needs  no  defense,  I  think  a  more  important  key 
to  his  action  is  to  be  found  in  the  first  sentence  of  his 
letter :  "  Your  letters  of  July  28  and  August  2  have  been 
received  and  I  have  waited  for  a  leisure  hour  to  reply." 
The  letter  of  July  28  apparently  was  not  printed  till  1897 
in  the  supplementary  volumes  of  the  "  Official  Records." 
In  it  Davis  writes  (italics  mine) :  — 

Misfortune  often  develops  secret  foes  and  still  oftener 
makes  men  complain.  It  is  comfortable  to  hold  some  one 
responsible  for  one's  discomfort.  In  various  quarters  there  are 
mutterings  of  discontent,  and  threats  of  alienation  are  said  to 
exist,  with  preparation  for  organized  opposition.  There  are 
others  who,  faithful  but  dissatisfied,  find  an  appropriate  remedy 


58  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

in  the  removal  of  officers  who  have  not  succeeded.  They  have  not 
counted  the  cost  of  following  their  advice.  Their  remedy,  to 
be  good,  should  furnish  substitutes  who  would  be  better  than 
the  officers  displaced.  If  a  victim  would  secure  the  success  of 
our  cause,  I  would  freely  offer  myself.30 

It  seems  of  course  absurd  to  suppose  that  Davis  in 
tended  any  hint  here,  especially  in  view  of  the  instant, 
cordial,  and  affectionate  negative  which  he  returned  to 
Lee's  suggestion.  Yet  I  think  it  quite  in  the  character  of 
the  man  to  feel  that  it  would  be  a  graceful  and  respectful 
thing  for  a  beaten  commander  to  take  such  a  step  and 
receive  presidential  clemency.  At  any  rate,  if  Davis's 
remarks  were  not  intended  as  a  hint,  they  show  a  gross 
lack  of  tact  as  addressed  to  a  man  in  Lee's  situation  ; 
and  certainly  no  one  can  doubt  that  Lee's  letter  was  in 
the  main  the  response  of  his  sore  and  fretted  humility  to 
what  seemed  the  implied  suggestion  of  his  superior. 

It  must  not,  however,  for  a  moment  be  supposed  that 
Lee's  attitude  towards  Davis  or  any  one  else  was  in  any 
way  servile.  Dignity,  not  pompous  or  self-conscious,  but 
natural,  was  his  unfailing  characteristic.  "He  was  one 
with  whom  nobody  ever  wished  or  ventured  to  take  a 
liberty."  31  Even  little  slights  he  could  resent  in  his  quiet 
way.  Davis  himself  records  with  much  amusement  that 
he  once  made  some  slur  at  a  mistake  of  the  engineers, 
and  Lee,  who  had  been  trained  in  that  service,  replied 
that  he  "  did  not  know  that  engineer  officers  were  more 
likely  than  others  to  make  such  mistakes."  32 


LEE  AND   DAVIS  59 

Furthermore,  Lee  never  hesitated  to  urge  upon  the 
president  the  wants  of  the  army.  Over  and  over  again 
he  writes,  pointing  out  the  terrible  need  of  reinforce 
ments.  "I  beg  that  you  will  take  every  practicable 
means  to  reinforce  our  ranks,  which  are  much  reduced, 
and  which  will  require  to  be  strengthened  to  their  full 
extent  to  be  able  to  compete  with  the  invigorated  force 
of  the  enemy."  33  His  tone  is  roundly  decided  and  ener 
getic  when  he  represents  the  importance  of  government 
action  to  repress  straggling  and  disorder.  "  I  have  the 
honor  to  inclose  to  you  a  copy  of  a  letter  written  on  the 
yth  instant,  which  may  not  have  reached  you,  containing 
suggestions  as  to  the  means  of  preventing  them  and  pun 
ishing  the  perpetrators.  I  again  respectfully  invite  your 
attention  to  what  I  have  said  in  that  letter.  Some  effect 
ual  means  of  repressing  these  outrages  should  be  adopted, 
as  they  are  disgraceful  to  the  army  and  injurious  to  our 
cause."  34  As  the  difficulty  of  obtaining  supplies  became 
greater  towards  the  end,  although  it  was  notorious  that 
they  were  to  be  had  in  various  parts  of  the  country,  Lee 
did  not  hesitate  to  side  with  the  public  at  large  and  de 
mand  the  removal  of  Davis's  favorite,  the  commissary- 
general,  Northrop ;  and  I  have  no  doubt  that  this  is 
referred  to  in  Davis's  remark  to  Dr.  Craven.  "  Even 
Gen.  -  — ,  otherwise  so  moderate  and  conservative,  was 
finally  induced  to  join  this  injurious  clamor."  35 

In  general  political  questions  Lee  was  very  reluctant 
to  interfere.  He  did  so  at  times,  however.  His  sugges- 


60  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

tions  as  to  finance  and  as  to  the  military  employment  of 
negroes  are  less  connected  with  Davis  and  belong  more 
properly  to  the  discussion  of  his  relations  with  the  Con 
federate  Government.  But  there  were  matters  on  which 
he  appealed  to  the  president  urgently  and  directly.  At 
the  time  of  the  first  invasion  of  Maryland,  he  wrote  an 
earnest  letter  pointing  out  the  desirability  of  proposals 
for  peace.  "  The  present  position  of  affairs,  in  my  opin 
ion,  places  it  in  the  power  of  the  Government  of  the  Con 
federate  States  to  propose  with  propriety  to  that  of  the 
United  States  the  recognition  of  our  independence."  36 
Again,  just  before  the  second  invasion,  he  writes  to  the 
same  effect  with  even  more  energy.  "  Davis  had  said 
repeatedly  that  reunion  with  the  North  was  unthinkable," 
remarks  his  latest  biographer.  "  Lee  wrote  in  effect  that 
such  assertions,  which  out  of  respect  to  the  Executive  he 
charged  against  the  press,  were  short-sighted  in  the  ex 
treme."  Lee's  language  is  in  no  way  disrespectful,  but 
it  is  very  decided.  "Nor  do  I  think  we  should  in  this 
connection  make  nice  distinction  between  those  who  de 
clare  for  peace  unconditionally  and  those  who  advocate 
it  as  a  means  of  restoring  the  Union,  however  much  we 
may  prefer  the  former.  .  .  .  When  peace  is  proposed,  it 
will  be  time  enough  to  discuss  its  terms,  and  it  is  not 
the  part  of  prudence  to  spurn  the  proposition  in  ad 
vance."  37 

Also,  in  political  matters  as  affecting  military  move 
ments  there  was  more  or  less  conflict  of  opinion  between 


LEE  AND   DAVIS  61 

the  president  and  his  leading  general.  Lee  regretted 
deeply  the  absence  of  Longstreet  before  Chancellorsville. 
Lee  was  very  anxious  to  be  supported  by  Beauregard 
before  Gettysburg.  There  is  no  doubt  that  Lee,  all 
through  the  war,  would  have  preferred  a  policy  of  more 
energetic  concentration.  And  if  the  testimony  of  Long, 
Gordon,  and  others  is  to  be  accepted  as  against  that  of 
Davis  himself,  Lee  would  have  abandoned  Richmond 
toward  the  close  of  the  struggle,  had  it  not  been  for  the 
decided  opposition  of  the  president. 

In  all  these  differences,  however,  we  must  note  Lee's 
infinite  courtesy  and  tact  in  the  expression  of  his  views. 
If  he  had  lectured  his  superior  after  the  fashion  in 
which  he  himself  was  frequently  addressed  by  Long- 
street,  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia  would  have  been 
looking  for  a  commander  at  a  very  early  stage.  Instead 
of  this,  however  decided  his  opinion,  however  urgent 
his  recommendations,  the  language,  without  being  undig 
nified,  is  such  as  to  soothe  Davis' s  sensitive  pride  and 
save  his  love  of  authority.  "  I  earnestly  commend  these 
considerations  to  the  attention  of  Your  Excellency  and 
trust  that  you  will  be  at  liberty,  in  your  better  judgment, 
and  with  the  superior  means  of  information  you  possess 
...  to  give  effect  to  them,  either  in  the  way  I  have 
suggested  or  in  such  other  manner  as  may  seem  to  you 
more  judicious."  38 

Yet  with  all  his  tact  and  all  his  delicacy  Lee  must 
have  felt  as  if  he  were  handling  a  shy  and  sensitive 


62  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

horse,  who  might  kick  over  the  traces  at  any  moment, 
with  little  provocation  or  none,  so  touchy  was  the  pre* 
sident  apt  to  be  at  even  the  slightest  suggestion.  For  in 
stance,  Lee  advises  that  General  Whiting  should  be  sent 
south.  Davis  indorses :  "  Let  General  Lee  order  General 
Whiting  to  report  here,  and  it  may  then  be  decided 
whether  he  will  be  sent  south  or  not."39  Lee  objects 
earnestly  to  the  organization  of  the  military  courts,  offer 
ing  to  draft  a  new  bill  in  regard  to  them.  Davis  simply 
comments :  "I  do  not  find  in  the  law  referred  to  any 
thing  which  requires  the  commanding  general  to  refer 
all  charges  to  the  military  courts."  40  Davis  hears  gossip 
about  Lee's  expressed  opinions  and  calls  him  to  order 
in  the  sharpest  manner.  "  Rumors  assumed  to  be  based 
on  your  views  have  affected  the  public  mind  and  it  is 
reported  obstructs  [sic]  needful  legislation.  A  little 
further  progress  will  produce  panic.  If  you  can  spare 
the  time,  I  wish  you  to  come  here."  41  But  the  most  de 
cided  snub  of  all  came  in  connection  with  the  punish 
ment  of  deserters.  Lee  felt  strongly  about  this  and  had 
urged  upon  Davis  and  upon  the  War  Office  the  ruinous 
effects  of  executive  clemency.  Finally,  Longstreet  calls 
attention  to  the  depletion  of  his  command  by  desertion, 
which  he  asserts  is  encouraged  by  constant  reprieval. 
Lee  passes  on  the  complaint  with  the  comment :  "  De 
sertion  is  increasing  in  the  army,  notwithstanding  all  my 
efforts  to  stop  it.  I  think  a  rigid  execution  of  the  law 
is  [kindest?]  in  the  end.  The  great  want  in  our  army 


LEE  AND   DAVIS  63 

is  firm  discipline."  42  Seddon  refers  the  matter  to  Davis 
and  he  calmly  notes :  "  When  deserters  are  arrested, 
they  should  be  tried,  and  if  the  sentence  is  remitted,  that 
is  not  a  proper  subject  for  the  criticism  of  a  military 
commander/' 43  When  one  reads  these  things,  one  is 
reminded  of  Mrs.  Davis' s  delightful  remark  about  "  the 
talent  for  governing  men  without  humiliating  them," 
and  one  is  almost  tempted  to  reverse  it. 

That,  in  spite  of  these  small  matters  of  necessary  dis 
cipline,  Davis  had  the  most  unbounded  and  sincere  affec 
tion  for  Lee  is  not  open  to  a  moment's  doubt.  In  the 
early  days,  when  Lee  was  unpopular,  the  president  sup 
ported  him  loyally.  When  the  South  Carolinians  ob 
jected  to  his  being  sent  to  them,  Davis  said,  "  If  Lee  is 
not  a  general,  then  I  have  none  that  I  can  send  you."  44 
And  no  jealousy  of  later  glory  or  success  prevented  the 
repeated  expression  of  a  similar  opinion.  "  General  Lee 
was  one  of  the  greatest  soldiers  of  the  age,  if  not  the 
very  greatest  of  this  or  any  other  country."  45  And  the 
praise  was  as  discriminating  as  it  was  enthusiastic : 
"General  Lee  was  not  a  man  of  hesitation  and  they  mis 
take  his  character  who  suppose  that  caution  was  his 
vice." 46  Admiration  of  the  general  was,  moreover, 
backed  up  by  a  solid  confidence  which  is  expressed  re 
peatedly  by  Davis  himself  and  by  others.  "The  Presi 
dent  has  unbounded  confidence  in  Lee's  capacity,  modest 
as  he  is,"  says  J.  B.  Jones,  at  the  very  beginning  of  the 
war.47  "General  Lee  was  now  fast  gaining  the  con- 


64  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

fidence  of  all  classes ;  he  had  possessed  that  of  the  Pre 
sident  always,"  writes  Mrs.  Davis.48  "  I  am  alike  happy 
in  the  confidence  felt  in  your  ability  and  your  superiority 
to  outside  clamor,  when  the  uninformed  assume  to  direct 
the  movement  of  armies  in  the  field,"  49  is  one  among 
many  passages  which  show  unreserved  reliance  on  the 
commander-in-chief. 

Nor  was  Davis  less  keenly  aware  of  Lee's  great  quali 
ties  as  a  man  than  of  his  military  superiority.  This  is 
made  abundantly  apparent  in  both  speeches  and  writ 
ings  after  Lee's  death.  The  president  extols  his  subord 
inate's  uprightness,  his  generosity,  his  utter  forgetful- 
ness  of  self  and  loyal  devotion.  In  the  noble  eulogy  pro 
nounced  at  the  Lee  Memorial  gathering  in  1870  there 
are  many  instances  of  such  praise,  none  more  striking 
than  the  account  of  Lee's  attitude  towards  the  attacks 
made  upon  him  before  his  popularity  was  established : 
"  Through  all  this,  with  a  magnanimity  rarely  equaled, 
he  stood  in  silence,  without  defending  himself  or  allow 
ing  others  to  defend  him."  50  And  besides  the  general 
commendation  there  is  a  note  of  deep  personal  feeling 
which  is  extremely  touching.  "  He  was  my  friend  and 
in  that  word  is  included  all  that  I  can  say  of  any  man."  51 
I  have  not  met  with  a  single  expression  on  Davis's  part 
of  deliberate  criticism  or  fault-finding,  and  if  he  did  not 
say  such  things  he  did  not  think  them,  for  he  was  a  man 
whose  thoughts  found  their  way  to  the  surface  in  some 
shape  sooner  or  later. 


LEE  AND   DAVIS  65 

With  Lee  it  is  different.  About  many  things  we  shall 
never  know  what  he  really  thought.  Undoubtedly  he 
esteemed  and  admired  Davis ;  but  the  expression  of 
these  feelings  does  not  go  beyond  kindly  cordiality. 
Soon  after  the  war  he  writes  to  Early :  "  I  have  been 
much  pained  to  see  the  attempts  made  to  cast  odium 
upon  Mr.  Davis,  but  do  not  think  they  will  be  successful 
with  the  reflecting  or  informed  part  of  the  country."  52 
After  Davis' s  release  from  captivity,  Lee  wrote  him  a 
letter  which  is  very  charming  in  its  old-fashioned  court 
esy.  "Your  release  has  lifted  a  load  from  my  heart 
which  I  have  no  words  to  tell.  .  .  .  That  the  rest  of 
your  days  may  be  triumphantly  happy  is  the  sincere  and 
earnest  wish  of  your  most  obedient  and  faithful  friend  and 
servant."  53  Lee  is,  of  course,  even  less  outspoken  in 
criticism  than  in  praise  of  his  superior.  It  is  only  very 
rarely  that  we  catch  a  trace  of  dissatisfaction,  as  in  refer 
ence  to  the  anxiety  of  the  authorities  in  regard  to  Rich 
mond  :  "  The  general  had  been  heard  to  say  that  Rich 
mond  was  the  millstone  that  was  dragging  down  the 
army."  54  In  the  delightful  —  if  not  always  perfectly  re 
liable —  memoirs  of  General  Gordon  we  get  perhaps 
the  most  explicit  statement  of  what  Lee's  feeling  about 
the  president  really  was.  It  was  at  the  time  when  Davis 
was  said  to  be  unwilling  to  abandon  the  capital.  Lee 
spoke  to  Gordon  in  the  highest  terms  of  the  great  quali 
ties  of  Davis's  character,  praised  "the  strength  of  his 
convictions,  his  devotion,  his  remarkable  faith  in  the 


66  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

possibility  of  still  winning  our  independence,  his  uncon 
querable  will-power.  But,"  he  added,  "you  know  that 
the  president  is  very  tenacious  in  opinion  and  pur 
poses."  55 

The  study  of  the  relations  of  Lee  and  Davis  grows 
more  interesting,  as  the  history  of  the  Confederacy  ap 
proaches  its  tragic  close.  In  1861,  Davis  was  popular  all 
through  the  country.  A  small  faction  would  have  pre 
ferred  another  president,  but  once  he  was  elected  the 
support  was  enthusiastic  and  general.  With  difficulties 
and  reverses,  however,  there  came — naturally — a  change 
of  feeling.  In  the  first  place,  the  Confederacy  had  seceded 
for  state  rights.  Now  war  powers  and  state  rights  did  not 
go  together.  Davis  was  constantly  anxious  to  have  law 
behind  him,  so  anxious  that  the  "  Richmond  Whig " 
sneered  at  his  desire  to  get  a  law  to  back  up  every  act  of 
usurpation.  But  military  necessity  knows  no  law  and  the 
states  in  time  grew  restive  and  almost  openly  rebellious. 

More  than  that,  there  came  —  also  naturally  —  a  bitter 
hostility  to  Davis  himself.  "  The  people  are  weary  of  the 
flagrant  mismanagement  of  the  government,"  is  a  mild 
specimen  of  the  sort  of  thing  that  abounds  in  the  "  Rich 
mond  Examiner."  66  "  Jefferson  Davis  now  treats  all  men 
as  if  they  were  idiotic  insects,"  says  the  "Charleston 
Mercury."  57  And  Edmund  Rhett,  who  had  been  disposed 
to  hostility  from  the  beginning,  told  Mrs.  Chesnut  that 
the  president  was  "conceited,  wrong-headed,  wrangle- 
some,  obstinate —  a  traitor." 58  These  little  amenities  were 


LEE  AND   DAVIS  67 

of  course  to  be  expected.  Lincoln  had  to  meet  them.  But 
the  Southern  opposition  seems  to  have  been  more  wide 
spread  than  the  Northern,  and  I  imagine  an  election  in 
the  autumn  of  1864  would  have  defeated  Davis  decis 
ively.  A  moderate  view  of  the  state  of  things  appears 
in  a  letter  from  Forsythe  of  Mobile  to  Bragg,  January, 
1865 :  "  Men  have  been  taught  to  look  upon  the  presi 
dent  as  a  sort  of  inexorably  self-willed  man  who  will  see 
the  country  to  the  devil  before  giving  up  an  opinion  or 
a  purpose.  .  .  .  We  cannot  win  unless  we  keep  up  the 
popular  heart.  Mr.  Davis  should  come  down  and  grapple 
with  that  heart.  He  has  great  qualities  for  gaining  the 
confidence  of  the  people.  There  are  many  who  would 
leap  to  his  side  to  fight  with  and  for  him  and  for  the 
country,  if  he  would  step  into  the  arena  and  make  the 
place  for  them."  59 

The  question  now  arises,  How  far  was  Davis  really 
responsible  for  this  state  of  things  ?  Could  another,  larger, 
abler  man  have  done  more  than  he  did,  if  not  have  suc 
ceeded  where  he  failed  ?  For  there  is  good  evidence  that 
the  South  had  men  and  material  resources  to  have  kept 
up  the  struggle  far  longer.  "Our  resources,  fitly  and 
vigorously  employed,  are  ample,"  said  Lee  himself  in 
February,  i865.60  It  was  the  people  who  had  lost  their 
courage,  lost  their  interest,  lost  their  hope  —  and  no  won 
der.  But  could  any  people  have  behaved  differently? 
Would  that  people  with  another  leader  ?  "  It  is  not 
the  great  causes,  but  the  great  men  who  have  made 


68  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

history,"  says  one  of  the  acutest  observers  of  the  human 
heart. 

Such  discussion  would  be  futile  except  for  its  connec 
tion  with  the  character  of  Davis.  In  the  opinion  of  his 
detractors,  the  lost  cause  would  have  been  won  in  better 
hands  and  Pollard's  clever  book  has  spread  that  opinion 
very  widely.  Pollard,  however,  though  doubtless  sincere 
enough,  was  Davis' s  bitter  personal  enemy,  or  at  any 
rate  wrote  as  such.  The  dispassionate  observer  will 
hardly  agree  at  once  with  his  positive  conclusions.  More 
interesting  is  the  comment  of  the  diary-keeping  war- 
clerk,  Jones,  an  infinitely  small  personage,  but  with  an 
eye  many-faceted  as  an  insect's.  Jones  was  a  hearty 
admirer  of  the  president  at  first,  but  fault-finding  grows 
and,  what  is  more  important,  the  fault-finding  is  based 
on  facts.  Davis,  says  Jones,  "is  probably  not  equal  to 
the  r61e  he  is  called  upon  to  play.  He  has  not  the  broad 
intelligence  required  for  the  gigantic  measures  needed 
in  such  a  crisis  nor  the  health  and  physique  for  the  labors 
devolving  upon  him."  61 

It  is  difficult,  I  think,  not  to  agree  with  this  moderate 
statement,  unless  the  emphasis  should  be  placed  rather 
on  character  than  on  intelligence.  Probably  the  Con 
federacy  could  never  have  been  saved ;  but  there  might 
have  been  a  leader  who  could  have  done  more  to  save  it 
than  Davis.  In  the  first  place,  the  greatest  men  gather 
able  men  about  them.  Professor  Hart  writes,  with  jus 
tice  :  "  President  Davis' s  cabinet  was  made  up  in  great 


LEE  AND   DAVIS  69 

part  of  feeble  and  incapable  men."  62  Mrs.  Chesnut  tells 
us  that  "  there  is  a  perfect  magazine  of  discord  and  dis 
union  in  the  Cabinet !  "  63  Jones,  who  had  the  best  oppor 
tunities  for  observation  says  :  "  Never  did  such  little  men 
rule  a  great  people."  64  And  again,  "Of  one  thing  I  am 
certain,  that  the  people  are  capable  of  achieving  inde 
pendence,  if  they  only  had  capable  men  in  all  depart 
ments  of  the  government."  65  Mrs.  Chesnut  (an  admirer 
of  Davis  in  the  main)  lays  her  finger  on  the  secret  of  the 
matter  when  she  says:  "He  [Toombs]  rides  too  high  a 
horse  for  so  despotic  a  person  as  Jefferson  Davis."  66  And 
we  get  further  insight,  when  we  learn  that  in  1862  Davis 
considered  making  Lee  Secretary  of  War,  but  thought 
better  of  it.67  Perhaps  Lee  was  of  more  value  in  the  field 
than  he  would  have  been  in  the  cabinet ;  but  it  is  difficult 
to  believe  that  even  he  could  permanently  have  remained 
Davis's  secretary. 

There  are  plenty  of  other  indications,  besides  his  choice 
of  advisers,  to  show  that  Davis,  able,  brilliant,  noble  fig 
ure  as  he  was,  was  over-parted  in  the  enormous  r61e  he 
had  to  play.  He  could  not  always  handle  men  in  a  way 
to  win  them,  as  a  great  ruler  must.  In  his  earlier  life  we 
read  that  "  public  sentiment  had  proclaimed  that  Jeffer 
son  Davis  is  the  most  arrogant  man  in  the  United  States 
Senate,"  68  and  Mrs.  Davis  herself  tells  us,  when  she  first 
meets  him,  that  he  "  has  a  way  of  taking  for  granted 
that  everybody  agrees  with  him,  when  he  expresses 
an  opinion,  which  offends  me."69  "Gifted  with  some  of 


70  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

the  highest  attributes  of  a  statesman,  he  lacked  the  pli 
ancy  which  enables  a  man  to  adapt  his  measures  to  the 
crisis,"  says  his  kinsman,  Reuben  Davis.70  But  the  two 
most  decisive  comments  on  Davis's  career  that  I  know 
of  are  made  again  by  Mrs.  Davis,  certainly  with  no  in 
tention  of  judging  her  husband  and  all  the  more  valu 
able  on  that  account.  "  It  was  because  of  his  supersens- 
itive  temperament  and  the  acute  suffering  it  caused 
him,  I  had  deprecated  his  assuming  the  civil  adminis 
tration."  71  Cromwell,  Frederick,  Napoleon  had  not  a 
supersensitive  temperament  which  caused  them  acute 
suffering.  And  later  she  writes  :  "  In  the  greatest  effort 
of  his  life  Mr.  Davis  failed,  from  the  predominance  of 
some  of  these  noble  qualities,"  72  failed,  that  is,  not  by 
reason  of  external  impossibility,  but  from  causes  within 
himself.  Pollard  could  not  have  said  more.  Most  of  us 
would  hardly  say  so  much.  Mrs.  Davis  certainly  did  not 
intend  to,  yet  she  knew  the  facts  better  than  any  one  else 
in  the  world. 

Whether  another  ruler  than  Davis  could  have  saved 
the  country  or  not,  an  immense  number  of  people  in  the 
Confederacy  thought  that  one  man  could  —  and  that 
man  was  Lee.  Everywhere  those  who  most  mistrusted 
the  president  looked  to  Lee  with  confidence  and  enthus 
iasm.  At  least  as  early  as  June,  1864,  it  was  suggested 
that  he  should  be  made  dictator.  This  idea  became 
more  and  more  popular.  On  January  19,  1865,  the  "Ex 
aminer  "  expressed  itself  editorially  as  follows :  "  There 


LEE  AND  DAVIS  71 

is  but  one  way  known  to  us  of  curing  this  evil :  it  is  by 
Congress  making  a  law  investing  General  Lee  with  ab 
solute  military  power  to  make  all  appointments  and  di 
rect  campaigns.  It  may,  indeed,  be  said  that  in  this  new 
position  General  Lee  would  have  to  relieve  generals  and 
appoint  others  and  order  movements  which  perhaps 
might  not  satisfy  the  strategick  acumen  of  the  general 
publick;  and  how,  it  might  be  asked,  could  he  satisfy 
everybody  any  more  than  Mr.  Davis  ?  The  difference  is 
simply  that  every  Confederate  would  repose  implicit 
confidence  in  General  Lee,  both  in  his  military  skill  and 
in  his  patriotic  determination  to  employ  the  ablest  men, 
whether  he  liked  them  or  not." 

This  sort  of  thing  could  not  be  very  agreeable  to  Da 
vis,  and  Mrs.  Davis  is  said  by  the  spiteful  Pollard  to 
have  exclaimed :  "  I  think  I  am  the  person  to  advise 
Mr.  Davis  and  if  I  were  he,  I  would  die  or  be  hung  before 
I  would  submit  to  the  humiliation."73  On  January  17, 
however,  before  the  editorial  appeared  in  the  "  Exam 
iner,"  the  legislature  of  Virginia  addressed  a  respectful 
appeal  to  the  president  to  make  Lee  commander-in-chief 
of  all  the  Confederate  armies.  Davis,  knowing  his  man 
well,  replied  on  the  i8th  that  nothing  would  suit  him 
better,  and  on  the  same  day  wrote  to  Lee  offering  him 
the  position,  thus  anticipating  the  vote  of  Congress  on 
the  23d  that  a  commander-in-chief  should  be  appointed 
by  the  president,  by  and  with  the  consent  of  the  Senate. 

It  was  of  course  the  intention  of  Congress  to  take  the 


72  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

military  control  entirely  out  of  Davis's  hands.  It  was  ex 
pected  and  hoped  that  Lee  would  have  agreed  to  this. 
What  would  have  happened  if  Lee  had  done  so,  or 
what  would  have  happened  if  such  a  change  could 
have  been  made  at  an  earlier  date,  belongs  more 
properly  to  a  discussion  of  Lee's  general  relations  to 
the  Confederate  Government  and  the  national  policy 
as  a  whole.  To  have  attempted  anything  of  the  sort 
would  have  meant  revolution ;  for  Davis  would  have 
fought  it  to  the  death.  As  it  was,  Lee  did  not  hesitate  a 
moment.  To  all  suggestions  of  independent  authority  he 
returned  a  prompt  and  absolute  No.  The  position  of 
commander-in-chief  he  accepted,  but  he  accepted  it  only 
from  the  hands  of  Davis  and  with  the  intention  of  acting 
in  every  way  as  his  subordinate.  "  I  am  indebted  alone 
to  the  kindness  of  His  Excellency  the  President  for  my 
nomination  to  this  high  and  arduous  office  and  wish  I 
had  the  ability  to  fill  it  to  advantage.  As  I  have  received 
no  instructions  as  to  my  duties,  I  do  not  know  what  he 
desires  me  to  undertake." 74 

Thus  we  see  that  Lee,  from  personal  loyalty  or  from  a 
broad  view  of  policy,  or  both,  was  determined  to  remain 
in  perfect  harmony  with  his  chief  to  the  end.  After  the 
war  the  general  said:  "If  my  opinion  is  worth  any 
thing,  you  can  always  say  that  few  people  could  have 
done  better  than  Mr.  Davis.  I  knew  of  none  that  could 
have  done  as  well."  75  And  it  is  pleasant  to  feel  that  in 
all  the  conflict  and  agony  of  that  wretched  time  these 


LEE  AND   DAVIS  73 

two  noble  figures — both  lofty  and  patriotic,  if  not  equally 
so  —  could  work  together  in  the  full  spirit  of  Lee's  testi 
mony  before  the  Grand  Jury,  as  reported  by  himself  to 
Davis :  "  He  said  that  he  had  always  consulted  me  when 
he  had  the  opportunity,  both  in  the  field  and  elsewhere ; 
that  after  discussion,  if  not  before,  we  had  always  agreed, 
and  that  therefore  he  had  done,  with  my  consent  and 
approval,  what  he  might  have  done  if  he  had  not  con 
sulted  me,"  76 


IV 

LEE  AND  THE  CONFEDERATE  GOVERNMENT 

VIRGINIA  seceded  on  the  seventeenth  of  April,  1861,  one 
day  previous  to  Lee's  critical  interviews  with  Blair  and 
Scott.  On  April  23,  Lee  was  invited  to  appear  before  the 
state  convention  and  was  offered  the  position  of  cofn- 
mander-in-chief  of  the  Virginia  forces.  He  accepted  in  a 
simple  and  dignified  speech,  saying,  with  a  sincerity 
which  is  beyond  question,  "  I  would  ha,ve  much  preferred 
that  your  choice  had  fallen  upon  an  abler  man."  l 

The  newly  appointed  general  at  once  made  ready  to 
organize  the  state  troops  and  prepare  for  a  vigorous  de 
fense  against  invasion.  But  things  moved  rapidly,  and 
on  April  25,  Virginia  joined  the  Confederacy.  What  Lee 
thought  of  this  step  and  what  his  opinions  at  this  time 
were  in  regard  to  the  organization  and  future  policy  of 
the  Confederate  Government  is  in  no  way  revealed J:o  us. 
But  Alexander  H.  Stephens,  the  Confederate  vice-presi 
dent  and  commissioner  to  secure  Virginia's  adhesion, 
has  given  a  most  striking  picture  of  Lee's  perfect  will 
ingness  to  sacrifice  his  own  position  and  prospects  to  the 
best  interests  of  his  state. 

Stephens  had  an  interview  with  Lee.  "General  Lee 
heard  me  quietly,  understood  the  situation  at  once,  and 
saw  that  he  alone  stood  between  the  Confederacy  and 


THE  CONFEDERATE  GOVERNMENT   75 

his  State.  The  members  of  the  convention  had  seen  at 
once  that  Lee  was  left  out  of  the  proposed  compact  that 
was  to  make  Virginia  one  of  the  Confederate  States,  and 
I  knew  that  one  word,  or  even  a  look  of  dissatisfaction, 
from  him  would  terminate  the  negotiations  with  which  I 
was  intrusted.  .  .  .  General  Lee  did  not  hesitate  for  one 
moment,  ...  he  declared  that  no  personal  ambition  or 
emolument  should  be  considered  or  stand  in  the  way. 
.  .  .  Nominally,  General  Lee  lost  nothing;  but  practically, 
for  the  time  being,  he  lost  everything.  The  Government 
moved  to  Richmond,  and  Mr.  Davis  directed  General 
Lee  to  retain  his  command  of  the  Virginia  troops,  which 
was  really  to  make  him  recruiting  and  drill  inspector."  2 
In  this  way  Lee  worked  in  more  or  less  subordinate  or 
inconspicuous  positions  during  the  whole  first  year  of 
the  war,  and  it  was  not  till  the  spring  of  1862,  by  the 
wounding  of  Johnston,  that  he  was  given  a  fair  chance 
to  display  his  military  ability. 

We  have  seen  that  one  of  the  most  striking  elements 
in  Lee's  attitude  towards  Davis  was  the  instinct  of  sub 
ordination,  of  subjection  of  military  to  civil  authority. 
The  same  thing  appears  everywhere  in  the  general's 
broader  relation  to  the  Confederate  Government  as  a 
whole.  Politics  were  not  his  business.  Even  policy  was 
not  his  business.  Let  others  plan  and  order ;  he  would 
execute.  Wellington  said  to  Greville  that  while  "un 
questionably  Napoleon  was  the  greatest  military  genius 
that  ever  existed,"  "  he  had  advantages  which  no  other 


76  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

man  ever  possessed  in  the  unlimited  means  at  his  com 
mand  and  his  absolute  power  and  irresponsibility." 3 
When  one  turns  from  Napoleon's  dispatches  to  Lee's, 
one  is  instantly  struck  with  the  difference  in  this  regard. 
Napoleon  says,  Go  here  ;  do  this  ;  let  these  troops  be  on 
this  spot  at  that  date.  They  are  there.  It  is  done.  Lee 
suggests  cautiously,  insinuates  courteously.  But  his 
greatest  art  is  to  keep  still.  It  is  very  rare  that  he  goes 
so  far  as  the  reported  humorous  saying,  "  that  he  had 
got  a  crick  in  his  neck  from  looking  over  his  shoulder 
towards  Richmond."  Such  military  command  as  is  dele 
gated  to  him  he  will  exercise  absolutely,  but  he  draws 
with  watchful  care  the  line  between  his  responsibility  and 
that  of  others  and  is  at  all  times  reluctant  to  overstep  it. 
An  interesting  instance  of  this  tendency  to  disclaim 
all  interference  with  the  civil  authority  is  Lee's  attitude 
toward  prisoners  of  war.  While  they  are  on  the  field, 
they  are  in  his  charge.  "  He  told  me  that  on  several 
occasions  his  commissary  general  had  come  to  him  after 
a  battle  and  reported  that  he  had  not  rations  enough 
both  for  prisoners  and  the  army,  .  .  .  and  he  had  always 
given  orders  that  the  wants  of  the  prisoners  should  be 
first  attended  to."  4  Yet  even  here  mark  the  reservation, 
when  the  question  becomes  more  general  (italics  mine)  : 
"  While  I  have  no  authority  in  the  case,  my  desire  is  that 
the  prisoners  shall  have  equal  rations  with  my  men."  5 
Once  in  the  military  prisons,  the  captives  were  the  care 
of  the  War  Department,  not  Lee's.  When  he  testified 


THE  CONFEDERATE  GOVERNMENT      77 

before  the  Reconstruction  Committee,  he  was  asked, 
"  Were  you  not  aware  that  those  prisoners  were  dying 
from  cold  and  starvation?"  He  answered:  "I  was  not. 
...  As  regards  myself,  I  never  had  any  control  over 
the  prisoners  except  those  that  were  captured  on  the  field 
of  battle.  Those  it  was  my  business  to  send  to  Richmond 
to  the  provost  marshal.  In  regard  to  their  disposition 
afterwards  I  had  no  control.  I  never  gave  an  order  about 
it."  6  The  most  curious  point  in  this  matter  of  prisoners 
of  war  is  Lee's  correspondence  with  Grant,  in  October, 
1864,  as  to  recaptured  slaves.7  It  is  curious  as  a  piece  of 
argument  in  which,  given  the  premises,  both  sides  were 
logically  right.  It  is  still  more  curious  when  we  find  that 
Lee,  while  appearing  to  speak  his  own  mind,  is  in  real 
ity  only  a  mouthpiece,  a  department  clerk,  writing  at 
the  dictation  of  Seddon,  that  is,  probably,  of  Davis. 

But  no  matter  how  submissive  a  man  may  be,  no  mat 
ter  how  rigorously  trained  in  military  discipline,  he  can 
not  command  a  great  army  through  a  great  disastrous 
war  in  a  republic  and  not  meddle  with  things  that  do 
not  concern  him.  What  does  concern  him  and  what 
does  not  ?  It  is  thus  that  we  see  Lee  forced  to  advise 
and  even  to  dictate  sharply  to  his  superiors,  more  and 
more  as  the  struggle  goes  on.  In  matters  semi-military 
or  affecting  other  military  departments,  not  Lee's  own, 
this  was  inevitable.  As  at  the  North,  the  newspapers 
were  troublesome  in  telling  what  they  should  not,  and 
Lee  begs  the  Secretary  of  War  to  control  them.  "  I  am 


78  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

particularly  anxious  that  the  newspapers  should  not  give 
the  enemy  notice  of  our  intention."  8  "  I  beg  you  will 
take  the  necessary  steps  to  prevent  in  future  the  giving 
publicity  in  this  way  to  our  strength  and  position."  9 

A  commander  in  the  field  may  do  his  best  to  preserve 
discipline,  but  he  is  terribly  hampered  when  the  War 
Department  permits  all  sorts  of  details,  furloughs,  and 
transfers,  and  is  lenient  to  desertion.  Again  and  again 
Lee  is  forced  to  protest  vigorously  against  abuses  of  this 
nature. 

A  general  may  wish  to  confine  himself  to  his  own 
sphere  of  responsibility ;  but  movements  in  the  northeast 
are  dependent  on  movements  in  the  southwest  and 
strengthening  one  command  means  weakening  another. 
Therefore  Lee  is  brought,  as  it  were  against  his  will,  to 
make  suggestions  and  requests  as  to  Bragg  in  Tennessee 
and  Johnston  in  Georgia.  "I  think  that  every  effort 
should  be  made  to  concentrate  as  large  a  force  as  poss 
ible  under  the  best  commander  to  insure  the  discomfiture 
of  Grant's  army  [in  the  west]."  10  He  writes  to  Bragg 
for  more  men ;  "  unless  they  are  sent  to  me  rapidly,  it 
may  be  too  late."  He  urges  upon  Seddon  the  utmost 
activity  in  general  measures  of  defense :  "  Whatever  in 
convenience  and  even  hardship  may  result  from  a  vigor 
ous  and  thorough  preparation  for  the  most  complete 
defense  we  can  make  will  be  speedily  forgotten  in  the 
event  of  success  or  amply  repaid  by  the  benefit  such  a 
course  will  confer  upon  us  in  the  case  of  misfortune."  n 


THE  CONFEDERATE  GOVERNMENT      79 

The  best  general  can  do  nothing  with  the  best  army, 
unless  it  is  fed  and  clothed;  and  food  and  clothing  — 
the  accumulation,  the  transportation,  the  distribution  — 
depend  upon  the  energy  and  capacity  of  the  Govern 
ment.  Lee  loved  his  army  as  if  they  were  his  children. 
He  knew  they  were  neither  clothed  nor  fed.  He  was  by 
no  means  satisfied  that  the  people  at  Richmond  were 
either  energetic  or  capable.  "  As  far  as  I  can  judge,  the 
proper  authorities  in  Richmond  take  the  necessities  of 
this  army  very  easily,"  he  writes  in  February,  i863.12 
How  could  a  commander  give  his  best  thought  to  fight 
ing,  when  he  saw  but  one  day's  food  before  him  ?  "  We 
have  rations  for  the  troops  to-day  and  to-morrow.  I  hope 
a  new  supply  arrived  last  night,  but  I  have  not  yet 
had  a  report.  Every  exertion  should  be  made  to  supply 
the  depots  at  Richmond  and  at  other  points.  All  pleasure 
travel  should  cease  and  everything  be  devoted  to  neces 
sary  wants."  13  Sometimes  he  feels  that  other  armies  are 
preferred  to  his  and  protests  vigorously.  "  I  have  under 
stood,  I  do  not  know  with  what  truth,  that  the  armies  of 
the  West  and  that  in  the  Department  of  South  Carolina 
and  Georgia  are  more  bountifully  supplied  with  pro 
visions.  ...  I  think  that  this  army  deserves  as  much 
consideration  as  either  of  those  named,  and,  if  it  can  be 
supplied,  respectfully  ask  that  it  be  similarly  provided."  14 
He  is  convinced  that  supplies  are  to  be  had  and  does 
not  pick  —  or  rather  does  pick  —  his  words  in  saying  so. 
"  I  know  that  there  are  great  difficulties  in  procuring 


8o  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

supplies,  but  I  cannot  help  thinking  that  with  proper 
energy,  intelligence,  and  experience  on  the  part  of  the 
Commissary  Department,  a  great  deal  more  could  be 
accomplished.  There  is  enough  in  the  country,  I  believe, 
if  it  was  properly  sought  for."  15  And  finally,  in  January, 
1865,  he  takes  the  matter  into  his  own  hands  and  issues 
a  personal  appeal  to  the  farmers  of  Virginia,  which,  for 
the  time,  affords  considerable  relief. 

From  the  supplying  of  armies  to  other  things,  equally 
vital,  but  quite  as  much  civil  as  military,  the  steps  are 
imperceptible,  but  taken  with  an  almost  logical  necessity. 
Lee  finds  his  soldiers  refused  passage  on  the  railways 
and  insists  on  their  claims  being  recognized.16  Passports 
are  given  indiscriminately  to  persons  who  convey  infor 
mation  to  the  enemy.17  Lee  exerts  his  authority  to  con 
trol  the  practice.  The  illegal  traffic  in  cotton  and  tobacco 
is  tolerated  by  the  Government  for  its  own  purposes. 
Lee  gives  assistance  and  advice  as  to  the  regulation  of 
such  traffic.18  The  greatest  difficulty,  of  all  the  many 
difficulties  of  the  Confederacy,  was  perhaps  that  of  pro 
perly  managing  its  finances.  Lee  has  a  word  about  this 
also,  writing  to  urge  the  authorities  to  make  treasury 
notes  a  legal  tender,19  and  elsewhere,  in  connection  with 
the  much  desired  reduction  of  the  currency,  suggesting 
payment  for  certain  consignments  of  wood  in  Confeder 
ate  bonds.20 

Political  even  more  than  military  was  the  nice  ques 
tion  of  retaliation,  which  was  made  the  subject  of  hot 


THE  CONFEDERATE  GOVERNMENT   81 

dispute  by  persons  in  authority  and  out  of  it.  Critics  of 
the  administration  21  attacked  its  lenient  policy,  even  to 
the  point  of  suggesting  that  Davis  opposed  violent 
measures  because  he  wished  to  keep  well  with  the  North 
in  view  of  possible  defeat.  In  extreme  cases  Lee  does 
not  hesitate  to  order  prompt  retaliatory  action.  "  I  have 
directed  Colonel  Mosby,  through  his  adjutants,  to  hang 
an  equal  number  of  Custer's  men  in  retaliation  for  those 
executed  by  him."  22  But  as  to  the  general  principle  he 
is  thoroughly  in  sympathy  with  Davis,  both  on  grounds 
of  humanity  and  on  grounds  of  policy.  "  I  differ  in  my 
ideas  from  most  of  our  people  on  the  subject  of  retali 
ation.  Sometimes  I  know  it  to  be  necessary,  but  it  should 
not  be  resorted  to  at  all  times,  and  in  our  case  policy 
dictates  that  it  should  be  avoided  whenever  possible."  23 
Lee  here  frankly  and  naturally  admits  that  his  inva 
sion  proclamations,  so  lauded  by  Southern  writers,  were 
founded  as  much  on  common  sense  as  on  lofty  principle. 
One  can  admire  the  noble  tone  and  still  more  the  rigid 
enforcement  of  those  proclamations,  without  forgetting 
that  Napoleon  also  said  to  his  soldiers  in  Vienna,  "  Let 
us  treat  the  poor  peasants  with  kindness  and  be  generous 
to  this  loyal  people  who  have  so  many  claims  to  our 
esteem  ;  let  us  not  be  puffed  up  by  our  success,  but  see 
in  it  another  proof  of  the  divine  justice  which  punishes 
ingratitude  and  treachery."  24 

Although  Lee  does  not  hesitate  to  go  outside  of  his 
own  peculiar  province  in  many  of  these  special  instances, 


82  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

it  is  very  rare  indeed  to  find  him  making  any  general 
criticism  of  the  civil  authorities.  The  following  remarks 
as  to  the  Confederate  Congress  have,  therefore,  a  pecul 
iar  interest  and  significance  :  "  What  has  our  Congress 
done  to  meet  the  emergency,  I  may  say  extremity,  in 
which  we  are  placed  ?  As  far  as  I  know,  concocted  bills 
to  exempt  a  certain  class  of  men  from  service,  and  to 
transfer  another  class  in  service,  out  of  active  service, 
where  they  hope  never  to  do  service.  Among  the  thou 
sand  applications  of  Kentuckians,  Marylanders,  Alabam- 
ians,  and  Georgians,  etc.,  to  join  native  regiments  out  of 
this  army,  who  ever  heard  of  their  applying  to  enter 
regiments  in  it,  when  in  face  of  the  enemy?  I  hope 
Congress  will  define  what  makes  a  man  a  citizen  of 
a  State.'' 25 

The  most  striking  of  all  Lee's  incursions  into  the  realm 
of  civil  government  was  his  effort,  toward  the  very  end 
of  the  war,  to  have  the  negroes  enlisted  as  soldiers.  The 
measure,  was,  of  course,  in  one  sense  purely  military ; 
but  it  affected  so  intimately  the  social  organization  and 
the  ethical  theories  on  which  the  whole  Confederacy  was 
founded  that  the  military  significance  of  it  was  almost 
dwarfed  by  the  political.  As  Pollard  justly  points  out,  it 
seemed  to  imply  an  equality  between  the  two  races 
which  was  utterly  repugnant  to  all  Southern  feeling  on 
the  subject,  and  nothing  shows  more  clearly  Lee's  im 
mense  influence  than  the  fact  that  he  was  able  to  per 
suade  his  countrymen  to  accept  his  view.  All  his  argu- 


THE  CONFEDERATE  GOVERNMENT      83 

ments  are  summed  up  in  a  clear  and  forcible  letter  to 
Hunter,26  —  otherwise  extremely  important  as  showing 
Lee's  general  position  as  to  slavery, — and  in  response 
to  this  Congress  voted  briefly  "that  the  General-in-Chief 
be  and  hereby  is  invested  with  the  full  power  to  call  into 
the  service  of  the  Confederate  Government,  to  perform 
any  duty  to  which  he  may  assign  them,  so  many  of  the 
able-bodied  slaves  within  the  Confederate  Government 
as,  in  his  judgment,  the  exigencies  of  the  public  service 
require."  27  The  comment  of  the  "  Examiner  "  on  this  is 
intensely  interesting  as  probably  summing  up  the^opinion 
of  hundreds  of  thousands  of  Lee's  fellow  citizens.  After 
expressing  frankly  grave  doubts  as  to  the  expediency  of 
the  measure,  the  editorial  concludes,  in  words  of  almost 
startling  solemnity,  "  This  clothes  him  with  great  power, 
and  loads  him  with  heavy  responsibility.  If  he  is  willing 
to  wield  that  power  and  shoulder  that  responsibility,  in 
the  name  of  God,  let  him  have  them."  28 

In  the  name  of  God,  let  Lee  save  us,  if  he  will :  no  one 
else  can.  There  is  no  doubt  that  this  was  the  spirit  of  a 
majority  of  Southerners  in  February,  1865.  There  is  no 
doubt  that  this  was  the  spirit  which  led  to  his  being 
offered  practically  the  military  dictatorship  by  Congress. 
"  The  ablest  officers  of  the  Confederate  States,"  says  the 
"  Examiner,"  "  would,  we  feel  assured,  gladly  see  the 
supreme  direction  of  their  conduct  placed  in  the  hands 
of  General  Lee,  and  would  receive  his  orders  with  pleas 
ure.  All  citizens,  and  more  emphatically,  all  soldiers, 


84  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

now  know  .  .  .  that  the  one  thing  needful  to  fill  the 
army  with  enthusiasm,  and  to  inspire  the  people  for 
new  effort,  is  to  feel  that  our  military  tforce  is  to  be 
wielded  by  one  capable  hand  and  directed  by  one  calm, 
clear  intelligence."  29  Lee,  however,  absolutely  refused 
to  violate  his  subordination  to  the  president  in  any  way, 
and  according  to  Pollard  "  went  so  far  as  to  declare  to 
several  members  of  the  Richmond  Congress  that  what 
ever  might  be  Davis' s  errors,  he  was  yet  constitutionally 
the  president,  and  that  nothing  could  tempt  himself  to 
encroach  upon  prerogatives  which  the  constitution  had 
bestowed  upon  its  designated  head."  30 

What  could  an  ambitious,  unscrupulous  man  have  ac 
complished  in  that  emergency,  or  even  a  patriot  who 
would  have  been  willing  to  override  scruple  for  the  good 
of  his  country  ?  Would  Napoleon  or  Cromwell  have  said 
to  Davis,  "  You  may  do  what  I  want  or  go,"  have  gone 
direct  to  Congress  and  enforced  his  will,  have  swept 
fraud  and  incompetence  out  of  the  executive  depart 
ments,  have  handled  the  whole  military  force  like  one 
great  machine  and  so  concentrated  it  as  to  accomplish 
results  which  seemed  at  that  late  hour  impossible?  "Of 
one  thing  I  am  certain,"  wrote  in  January,  1865,  the 
diarist  Jones,  who  had  the  very  best  opportunities  of 
forming  an  opinion,  "that  the  people  are  capable  of 
achieving  independence,  if  they  only  had  capable  men 
in  all  departments  of  the  government." 31  In  any  case 
Lee  preferred  to  remain  the  loyal  servant  of  the  civil 


THE  CONFEDERATE  GOVERNMENT   85 

authority,  which  was  left  to  work  out  its  political  problems 
as  best  it  could. 

What  interests  us  in  our  study  of  Lee's  character  is 
the  motive  which  led  him  not  only  to  this  final  refusal, 
but  to  his  general  attitude  of  non-interference  with  the 
Confederate  Government.  It  has  often  been  suggested 
—  and  Grant  was  of  this  opinion 32  —  that  he  was  con 
sistent  in  his  state  loyalty  and  cared  for  Virginia  only, 
not  for  the  Confederacy  as  a  whole,  preferring  to  do  his 
fighting  to  the  end  upon  his  native  soil.  The  writer  of 
the  excellent  "  Nation "  review  of  Long's  "  Life " 
(Cox  ?),33  basing  his  conclusions  on  the  Townsend  anec 
dote  which  I  have  quoted  in  a  previous  chapter,34  holds 
that  Lee  had  little  regard  for  the  Confederate  cause  from 
beginning  to  end.  Some  suspicion  of  the  kind  was  un 
doubtedly  at  the  bottom  of  Pollard's  'harsh  charges. 
"The  fact  was  that,  although  many  of  General  Lee's 
views  were  sound,  yet,  outside  of  the  Army  of  Northern 
Virginia,  and  with  reference  to  the  general  affairs  of  the 
Confederacy,  his  influence  was  negative  and  accom 
plished  absolutely  nothing."  35  Again,  "  His  most  notable 
defect  was  that  he  never  had  or  conveyed  any  inspira 
tion  in  the  war." 36  And  Pollard  quotes  from  a  Rich 
mond  paper  after  the  Wilderness,  "  When  will  he  [Lee] 
speak?  Has  he  nothing  to  say?  What  does  he  think 
of  our  affairs  ?  Should  he  speak,  how  the  country  would 
hang  upon  every  word  that  fell  from  him ! "  37 

I  believe  that  this  theory  of  Lee's  lack  of  interest  in 


86  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

the  Confederacy  is  utterly  false.  Of  course  he  remained 
a  Virginian  and  would  have  followed  his  state  out  of  the 
later  union  as  he  had  followed  her  out  of  the  earlier ;  but 
while  Virginia  was  Confederate,  he  faithfully  merged 
his  duty  to  her  in  the  broader  loyalty.  "  They  do  injus 
tice  to  Lee  who  believe  he  fought  only  for  Virginia," 
said  Davis.  "He  was  ready  to  go  anywhere  for  the 
good  of  his  country."  38  The  cheerful  energy  which  the 
general  showed  when  sent  to  South  Carolina  in  the  early 
part  of  the  war  confirms  this,  as  does  passage  after  pas 
sage  of  his  correspondence.  "  Let  it  be  distinctly  under 
stood  by  every  one  that  Charleston  and  Savannah  are 
to  be  defended  to  the  last  extremity.  If  the  harbors 
are  taken,  the  cities  are  to  be  fought  street  by  street, 
house  by  house,  so  long  as  we  have  a  foot  of  ground 
to  stand  upon." 39  A  writer  in  the  Southern  Historical 
Papers  asserts  that  "those  whose  privilege  it  was  to 
hear  the  great  chieftain  talk  most  freely  of  the  cause  for 
which  he  fought,  bear  the  most  emphatic  witness  that 
it  was  'the  independence  of  the  South/  'the  triumph 
of  constitutional  freedom/  for  which  he  struggled  so 
nobly."  40 

But  by  far  the  most  striking  and  interesting  testimony 
to  Lee's  thorough  espousal  of  Confederate  nationality 
and  sober,  earnest  grasp  of  the  whole  problem  before 
him  is  his  conversation  with  Imboden  near  the  begin 
ning  of  the  struggle.  General  Imboden  declares  that  his 
report  is  "almost  literal,"  but  for  our  purpose  its  sub- 


THE  CONFEDERATE  GOVERNMENT   87 

stantial  correctness  is  all-sufficient  (italics  mine).  "  Our 
people  are  brave  and  enthusiastic  and  are  united  in  de 
fense  of  a  just  cause.  I  believe  we  can  succeed  in  estab 
lishing  our  independence,  if  the  people  can  be  made  to 
comprehend  at  the  outset  that  they  must  endure  a  longer 
war  and  far  greater  privations  than  our  forefathers  did 
in  the  Revolution  of  1776.  We  will  not  succeed  until  the 
financial  power  of  the  North  [the  political  insight  of  this 
is  extremely  noteworthy]  is  completely  broken.  .  .  .  The 
conflict  will  be  mainly  in  Virginia.  She  will  be  the 
Flanders  of  America  before  this  war  is  over  and  her 
people  must  be  prepared  for  this.  If  they  resolve  at  once 
to  dedicate  their  lives  and  all  they  possess  to  the  cause 
of  constitutional  government  and  Southern  independence 
and  to  suffer  without  yielding  as  no  other  people  have 
been  called  upon  to  suffer  in  modern  times,  we  shall, 
with  the  blessing  of  God,  succeed  in  the  end ;  but  when 
it  will  be  no  man  can  foretell.  /  wish  I  could  talk  to  every 
man,  woman,  and  child  in  the  South  now  and  impress 
them  with  these  views."  41 

No.  If  Lee  was  modest,  it  was  from  genuine  modesty. 
If  he  shunned  burdens  and  responsibilities,  it  was  be 
cause  he  truly  felt  himself  unable  to  undertake  them.  It 
is  a  most  curious  point  in  the  man's  character,  this  nice 
avoidance  of  duties  that  did  not  belong  to  him.  "  Be 
content  to  do  what  you  can  for  the  well-being  of  what 
properly  belongs  to  you,"  he  writes  to  Mrs.  Lee.  "  Com 
mit  the  rest  to  those  who  are  responsible."42  It  is  in  this 


88  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

spirit  that  he  is  eager  to  make  clear  to  the  Reconstruction 
Committee  that  the  Government's  foreign  policy  was  no 
concern  of  his.  "  I  know  nothing  of  the  policy  of  the 
government ;  I  had  no  hand  or  part  in  it ;  I  merely  ex 
press  my  own  opinion."  43  Even  in  military  matters  he 
is  careful  to  draw  the  sharpest  line  between  his  own  task 
and  that  of  his  subordinates  :  "  I  think  and  I  work  with 
all  my  power  to  bring  my  troops  to  the  right  place  at 
the  right  time  ;  then  I  have  done  my  duty."  44  He  is  so 
careful  that  at  times  one  feels  a  certain  sympathy  with 
the  otherwise  negligible  Northrop,  when  he  complains : 
"  There  is,  in  my  judgment,  no  isolation  of  the  responsi 
bility  in  any  of  the  machinery  of  war." 45 

One  wonders  that  a  man  could  be  so  sensitive  about 
the  limits  of  responsibility  and  yet  command  absolutely 
for  three  years  an  army  of  fifty  to  a  hundred  thousand 
men,  lead  them  again  and  again  to  victory,  make  such 
terrible  decisions  as  that  of  Jackson's  movement  at 
Chancellorsville  and  the  attack  at  Gettysburg.  And  then 
one  reflects  that  it  was  probably  just  this  clear  sense  of 
what  others  ought  to  do  and  should  be  left  to  do  that 
made  Lee's  power.  Smaller  men  fret  over  executive  de 
tails  or  rush  readily  into  what  they  do  not  understand. 
He  knew  his  own  training,  his  own  character,  knew  his 
own  work  and  did  it,  letting  others  do  theirs,  if  they 
could.  It  is  with  this  explanation  in  view  that  we  should 
read  his  remarkable  colloquy  with  B.  H.  Hill,  toward  the 
close  of  the  war,  as  reported  by  Long  :  — 


THE  CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT      89 

"General,  I  wish  you  would  give  us  your  opinion  as  to 
the  propriety  of  changing  the  seat  of  Government  and  going 
farther  South." 

"That  is  a  political  question,  Mr.  Hill,  and  you  politicians 
must  determine  it.  I  shall  endeavor  to  take  care  of  the  army 
and  you  politicians  must  make  the  laws  and  control  the 
Government." 

"Ah,  General,"  said  Mr.  Hill,  "but  you  will  have  to  change 
that  rule  and  form  and  express  political  opinions;  for  if  we 
establish  our  independence,  the  people  will  make  you  Mr. 
Davis's  successor." 

"Never,  sir,"  he  replied,  with  a  firm  dignity  that  belonged 
only  to  Lee;  "that  I  will  never  permit.  Whatever  talents  I 
may  possess  (and  they  are  but  limited)  are  military  talents, 
my  education  and  training  are  military.  I  think  the  military 
and  civil  talents  are  distinct,  if  not  different,  and  full  duty  in 
either  sphere  is  about  as  much  as  one  man  can  qualify  him 
self  to  perform.  I  shall  not  do  the  people  the  injustice  to 
accept  high  civil  office,  with  whose  questions  it  has  not  been 
my  business  to  become  familiar." 

"Well,  but,  General,  history  does  not  sustain  your  view. 
Caesar  and  Frederick  of  Prussia  and  Bonaparte  were  great 
statesmen  as  well  as  great  generals." 

"And  great  tyrants,"  he  promptly  replied.  "  I  speak  of  the 
proper  rule  in  Republics,  where  I  think  we  should  have 
neither  military  statesmen  nor  political  generals." 

"But  Washington  was  both  and  yet  not  a  tyrant." 

With  a  beautiful  smile  he  responded,  "Washington  was  an 
exception  to  all  rules  and  there  was  none  like  him."  46 

Probably  Lee  underestimated  his  aptitude  for  civil 
government,  at  any  rate  in  comparison  with  that  of 


90  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

others.  The  patience,  the  foresight,  above  all  the  tact  in 
handling  men,  which  made  him  a  great  general,  would 
have  made  him  a  great  president  also.  But  taking  all 
things  into  account,  I  doubt  whether  he  could  have  done 
more  for  the  Confederacy  than  he  did,  or  whether  even 
Washington  would  have  attempted  to  do  more. 

Granted,  however,  that  Lee's  modesty  was  the  chief 
cause  of  his  not  interfering  further  in  political  action,  I 
think  another  consideration  must  have  influenced  him 
to  some  extent.  What  possible  future  had  the  Confeder 
ate  Government  ?  It  is  really  remarkable  that  in  all  the 
mass  of  Southern  —  or,  for  that  matter,  Northern  —  his 
torical  writing  so  little  notice  is  taken  of  this  vital  ques 
tion.  Supposing  the  North  had  given  in  and  let  the 
South  go  free,  what  would  have  happened  ?  Few  soldiers 
or  statesmen  seem  to  have  troubled  themselves  much 
about  the  matter,  so  far  as  I  can  find  out.  It  may  be  said 
that  neither  did  the  patriots  of  the  Revolution  trouble 
themselves  about  the  future.  But  the  case  was  different. 
It  was  a  logical  necessity,  a  natural  development  for 
America  to  separate  from  England.  Some  adjustment 
between  the  colonies  was  sure  to  be  found;  but  even 
with  none  they  would  be  better  free.  For  the  Confederacy 
there  would  appear  to  have  been  but  two  alternatives. 
A  great  slave  empire  might  have  been  formed,  central 
ized  for  necessary  strength,  supporting  a  standing  army 
of  half  a  million,  —  not  one  man  more  than  would  have 
been  required  at  any  moment  to  face  the  military  power 


THE  CONFEDERATE  GOVERNMENT   91 

of  the  United  States,  in  disputes  that  would  have  arisen 
daily  over  territory,  emigration,  tariff,  and  especially 
over  slavery  complications.  Or  the  absurd  incompatibil 
ity  of  this  with  all  the  ideas  for  which  the  South  origin 
ally  went  to  war  would  have  made  itself  felt.  State  rights 
would  have  asserted  themselves  everywhere.  The  Con 
federate  group  would  have  broken  into  smaller  groups, 
those  again  would  have  dissolved  into  the  original  states, 
and  these,  after  a  probably  brief  period  of  dissension  and 
strife,  would  have  been  reabsorbed,  with  humiliation 
and  disgust,  into  the  Union  from  which  they  had  been 
rent  away.  Is  it  easy  to  paint  any  more  satisfactory  pic 
ture  of  the  possible  future  of  the  Confederate  States  of 
America  ? 47 

Such  speculation  is  useless  now.  It  would  seem  to 
have  been  eminently  practical  and  necessary  for  the  men 
who  were  leading  millions  of  their  fellows  into  such  an 
abyss  of  uncertainty.  What  did  Lee  think  about  it?  The 
answer  is  not  simple ;  for  his  words  on  the  subject 
are  few  and  noncommittal  Pollard's  accusation,  that 
"never,  at  any  time  of  the  war,  and  not  even  in  the 
companionship  of  the  most  intimate  friends,  on  whom 
he  might  have  bestowed  his  confidence  without  impru 
dence,  did  he  ever  express  the  least  opinion  as  to  the 
chances  of  the  war," 48  is  absurdly  exaggerated  ;  but  it  is 
true  that  Lee  had  little  to  say  about  the  future  of  the 
Confederacy.  Before  the  war,  before  the  issue  was 
squarely  presented,  we  know  that  he  took  much  the 


92  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

same  view  as  that  I  have  indicated  above.  "  Secession  is 
nothing  but  Revolution." 49  "I  can  anticipate  no  greater 
calamity  for  the  country  than  a  dissolution  of  the  Union. 
It  would  be  an  accumulation  of  all  the  evils  we  complain 
of,  and  I  am  willing  to  sacrifice  anything  but  honor  for 
its  preservation."50  Then  it  seemed  to  him  that  either 
honor  or  the  Union  must  be  sacrificed  and  he  did  not 
hesitate.  But  anarchy,  but  the  accumulation  of  all  evils 
must  have  been  clearly  before  him.  Apparently  he  shut 
his  eyes  to  them.  Do  the  immediate  duty  of  the  day. 
Get  independence.  "The  Confederate  States  have  but 
one  great  object  in  view,  the  successful  issue  of  their  war 
of  independence.  Everything  worth  their  possessing  de 
pends  on  that.  Everything  should  yield  to  its  accom 
plishment."  51  Independence  once  achieved,  the  rest 
would  take  care  of  itself.  Or  those  who,  unlike  Lee,  had 
the  responsibility  of  civil  affairs,  would  take  care  of  it. 
Or  God  would  take  care  of  it.  Here  is  the  key  to  what 
in  much  of  Lee's  action  seems  strangely  puzzling  to 
those  whose  standpoint  is  somewhat  different  from  his. 
Do  the  plain  duty.  Let  the  rest  go.  God  will  take  care 
of  it.  In  this  connection  a  conversation  of  Lee's  with 
Bishop  Wilmer,  is  immensely  significant 

In  what  temper  of  mind  he  entered  this  contest,  I  can  speak 
with  some  confidence,  from  personal  interviews  with  him  soon 
after  the  commencement  of  hostilities. 

"Is  it  your  expectation,"  I  asked,  "that  the  issue  of  this 
war  will  be  to  perpetuate  the  institution  of  slavery?" 


THE  CONFEDERATE  GOVERNMENT      93 

"The  future  is  in  the  hands  of  Providence,"  he  replied.  "  If 
the  slaves  of  the  South  were  mine,  I  would  surrender  them  all 
without  a  struggle  to  avert  this  war." 

I  asked  him  next  upon  what  his  calculations  were  based  in 
so  unequal  a  contest,  and  how  he  expected  to  win  success; 
was  he  looking  to  divided  counsels  in  the  North,  or  to  foreign 
interposition?  His  answer  showed  how  little  he  was  affected 
by  the  hopes  and  fears  which  agitated  ordinary  minds.  "My 
reliance  is  in  the  help  of  God." 

"Are  you  sanguine  of  the  result?"  I  ventured  to  inquire. 

"At  present  I  am  not  concerned  with  results.  God's  will 
ought  to  be  our  aim,  and  I  am  contented  that  his  designs 
should  be  accomplished  and  not  mine."  62 

Naturally  the  good  bishop  was  charmed ;  but  an  or 
dinary  mind  is  tempted  to  hope  that  it  is  not  incompat 
ible  with  the  deepest  love  and  admiration  for  Lee  to 
recall  the  candor  and  profoundly  human  truth  of  Barbe- 
Bleue's  remark :  "  C'est  en  ne  sachant  jamais  ou  j'allais 
moi-meme  que  je  suis  arrive  a  conduire  les  autres." 

The  object  of  all  war  is  peace,  and  with  the  thousand 
doubts  and  difficulties  that  were  pressing  upon  him,  Lee 
must  have  been  anxious  from  the  beginning  to  arrive  at 
almost  any  reasonably  satisfactory  conclusion  of  hostil 
ities.  Here  again  was  a  political  question,  yet  one  that  it 
was  almost  impossible  for  a  commanding  general  to 
avoid.  In  the  earlier  part  of  the  war  Lee  urged  a  peace 
attitude  upon  Davis,  with  some  apology  "in  view  of  its 
connection  with  the  situation  of  military  affairs."  53  The 
general  thought  the  Northern  peace  party  should  be 


94  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

encouraged  without  fear  of  that  encouragement  resulting 
in  a  reestablishment  of  the  Union.  "We  entertain  no 
such  apprehensions,  nor  doubt  that  the  determination  of 
our  people  for  a  distinct  and  independent  national  exist 
ence  will  prove  as  steadfast  under  the  influence  of  peace 
ful  measures  as  it  has  shown  itself  in  the  midst  of  war." 54 
In  this,  as  in  a  score  of  other  passages,  Lee  makes  it 
perfectly  evident  that  his  idea  of  peace  was  an  ample 
acknowledgment  of  Confederate  independence.  Yet  it 
has  been  maintained,  and  with  reliable  testimony,  that 
towards  the  close  of  the  struggle  he  grew  ready  to  accept 
some  less  radical  basis  of  agreement.  The  apparent  con 
tradiction  is  perfectly  explicable.  Lee  believed  from  first 
to  last  that  the  people  of  the  South  could  get  free,  if  they 
really  wished  to.  They  had  the  men,  they  had  the  re 
sources,  if  they  would  endure  and  suffer  and  sacrifice. 
As  late  as  February,  1865,  he  addressed  to  Governor 
Vance  of  North  Carolina  this  most  remarkable  appeal,  — 
remarkable  for  its  earnestness  and  enthusiasm  of  convic 
tion  in  the  midst  of  despair :  "So  far  as  the  despondency 
of  the  people  occasions  this  sad  condition  of  affairs,  I 
know  of  no  other  means  of  removing  it  than  by  the  coun 
sel  and  exhortations  of  prominent  citizens.  If  they  would 
explain  to  the  people  that  the  cause  is  not  hopeless ;  that 
the  situation  of  affairs,  though  critical,  is  critical  to  the 
enemy  as  well  as  to  ourselves ;  that  he  has  drawn  his 
troops  from  every  other  quarter  to  accomplish  his  de 
signs  against  Richmond  and  that  his  defeat  now  would 


THE  CONFEDERATE  GOVERNMENT      95 

result  in  leaving  nearly  our  whole  territory  open  to  us ; 
that  this  great  result  can  be  accomplished  if  all  will 
work  diligently  and  zealously ;  and  that  his  successes 
are  far  less  valuable  in  fact  than  in  appearance,  I  think 
our  sorely  tried  people  would  be  induced  to  bear  their 
sufferings  a  little  longer  and  regain  some  of  the  spirit 
that  marked  the  first  two  years  of  the  war.  If  they  will, 
I  feel  confident  that,  with  the  blessing  of  God,  our  great 
est  danger  will  prove  the  means  of  deliverance  and 
safety."  ™ 

But,  alas,  the  spirit  was  crushed,  the  courage  was 
broken,  never  to  be  reanimated  again.  Lee  knew  it, 
however  much  he  fought  the  conviction.  If  the  people 
were  no  longer  behind  him,  what  could  he  do  ?  "  Gen 
eral  Lee  says  to  the  men  who  shirk  duty/'  writes  Mrs. 
Chesnut,  "  *  This  is  the  people's  war :  when  they  tire, 
I  stop.'  " 56  Or  as  he  himself  writes,  more  solemnly,  "  Our 
people  have  not  been  earnest  enough,  have  thought  too 
much  of  themselves  and  their  ease,  and  instead  of  turn 
ing  out  to  a  man,  have  been  content  to  nurse  themselves 
and  their  dimes,  and  leave  the  protection  of  themselves 
and  families  to  others."57  It  was  this  that  made  him  so 
hopeless  about  obtaining  supplies  that  in  December, 
1864,  he  is  said  to  have  told  a  committee  of  Congress 
that  "he  could  devise  no  means  of  carrying  on  the 
war."  58  It  was  this  that  made  him  so  despondent  in  his 
conversation  with  Hunter,  about  the  same  time  that  the 
above  letter  was  written  to  Vance.  "  In  the  whole  of  this 


96  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

conversation  he  never  said  to  me  that  he  thought  the 
chances  were  over ;  but  the  tone  and  tenor  of  his  re 
marks  made  that  impression  on  my  mind."  59  It  was 
this,  finally,  that  made  him  say,  as  is  reported,  shortly 
after  the  war  was  over:  "  In  my  earnest  belief  peace  was 
practicable  two  years  ago  and  has  been  since  that  time, 
whenever  the  general  government  should  see  fit  to  give 
any  reasonable  chance  for  the  country  to  escape  the  con 
sequences  which  the  exasperated  North  seemed  ready  to 
visit  upon  it."  60 

Yet  here  again,  Lee  was  the  soldier,  not  the  president. 
So  long  as  the  civil  government  said  fight,  he  fought,  till 
fighting  had  become,  in  any  reasonable  sense,  imposs 
ible.  The  distress  of  mind  involved  in  this  is  nowhere 
more  clearly  indicated  than  in  the  words  said  to  have 
been  spoken  to  General  Gordon.  "  General  Gordon,  I  am 
a  soldier.  It  is  my  duty  to  obey  orders.  It  is  enough 
to  turn  one's  hair  gray  to  spend  one  day  in  the  Congress. 
The  members  are  patriotic  and  earnest,  but  they  will 
neither  take  the  responsibility  of  action  nor  will  they 
clothe  me  with  authority  to  act  for  them.  As  for  Mr. 
Davis,  he  is  unwilling  to  do  anything  short  of  independ 
ence  and  feels  that  it  is  useless  to  try  to  treat  on  that 
basis."  61  But  when  at  last  Davis  had  left  the  capital  and 
practically  the  control  of  affairs,  the  commander  of  the 
Army  of  Northern  Virginia  acted  his  final  scene  with  the 
dignity,  the  sacrifice,  the  true  patriotism  which  Mr. 
Adams  has  so  nobly  commemorated.62  Instead  of  scat- 


A 

THE  CONFEDERATE  GOVERNMENT   97 

tering  the  desperate  remnant  of  his  forces  to  carry  on  a 
murderous  guerilla  warfare,  Lee  recognized  the  inevit 
able,  and  surrendered  his  army  on  conditions  certainly 
in  no  way  hurtful  to  its  lasting  glory.  With  that  sur 
render  the  government  of  the  Confederate  States  in  real 
ity  ceased  to  exist. 

These  studies  of  Lee  in  his  relations  to  the  civil  gov 
ernment  do  not  perhaps  show  him  at  his  best  or  in  the 
most  splendid  manifestation  of  his  genius.  Yet  hardly 
anything  in  the  man's  character  is  grander  than  the  way 
in  which  he  instantly  adapted  himself  to  new  circum 
stances  and  began  to  work  as  a  loyal  and  devoted  citi 
zen,  even  when  the  United  States  still  refused  him  the 
rights  and  privileges  of  citizenship.  The  importance  of 
his  influence  in  this  regard,  over  his  friends  and  family, 
over  his  old  soldiers,  over  every  Southern  man  and 
woman  cannot  be  exaggerated.  "When  he  said  that 
the  career  of  the  Confederacy  was  ended ;  that  the  hope 
of  an  independent  government  must  be  abandoned ;  and 
that  the  duty  of  the  future  was  to  abandon  the  dream  of 
a  Confederacy  and  to  render  a  new  and  cheerful  alle 
giance  to  a  reunited  government,  —  his  utterances  were 
accepted  as  true  as  holy  writ.  No  other  human  being 
upon  earth,  no  other  earthly  power  could  have  produced 
such  acquiescence  or  could  have  compelled  such  prompt 
acceptance  of  the  final  and  irreversible  judgment."  63 
There  was  no  grudging,  no  holding  back,  no  hiding  of 
despair  in  dark  corners,  but  an  instant  effort  to  do,  and 


98  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

to  urge  others  to  do,  everything  possible  to  rebuild  the 
fair  edifice  that  had  been  overthrown. 

"  When  I  had  the  privilege,  after  his  death,  of  exam 
ining  his  private  letter-book,  I  found  it  literally  crowded 
with  letters  advising  old  soldiers  and  others  to  submit  to 
all  authorities  and  become  law-abiding  citizens,"  writes  his 
biographer.64  "I  am  sorry,"  writes  Lee  himself,  "to  hear 
that  our  returned  soldiers  cannot  obtain  employment. 
Tell  them  they  must  all  set  to  work,  and  if  they  cannot 
do  what  they  prefer,  do  what  they  can.  Virginia  wants 
all  their  aid,  all  their  support,  and  the  presence  of  all  her 
sons  to  sustain  and  recuperate  her." 65  "To  one  who  in 
quired  what  fate  was  in  store  for  us  poor  Virginians,  he 
replied,  'You  can  work  for  Virginia,  to  build  her  up 
again,  to  make  her  great  again.  You  can  teach  your 
children  to  love  and  cherish  her.'  "  66 

If  any  one  urges  that  this  is  still  the  old  leaven,  after 
all,  Virginia,  always  Virginia,  we  answer,  No,  this  man 
was  great  enough  to  forget  and  forget  at  once,  to  blend 
Virginia  even  then  with  a  larger  nationality.  As  a  mat 
ter  of  policy  he  expresses  this  with  clear  insight :  "  The 
interests  of  the  state  are,  therefore,  the  same  as  those  of 
the  United  States.  Its  prosperity  will  rise  or  fall  with  the 
welfare  of  the  country."  67  As  a  matter  of  feeling,  he  ex 
presses  it  with  profound  and  noble  emotion,  saying  to  a 
lady  who  cherished  more  bitterness  than  he,  "  Madam, 
don't  bring  up  your  sons  to  detest  the  United  States 
Government.  Recollect  that  we  form  one  country  now. 


THE  CONFEDERATE  GOVERNMENT   99 

Abandon  all  these  local  animosities  and  make  your  sons 
Americans."  68 

Abandon  all  these  local  animosities  and  make  your  sons 
Americans.  What  finer  sentence  could  be  inscribed  on 
the  pedestal  of  Lee's  statue  than  that  ?  Americans !  All 
the  local  animosities  forgiven  and  forgotten,  can  we  not 
say  that  he,  too,  though  dying  only  five  years  after  the 
terrible  struggle,  died  a  loyal,  a  confident,  a  hopeful 
American,  and  one  of  the  very  greatest  ? 


LEE  AND  HIS  ARMY 

WHAT  we  have  to  study  in  Lee's  relations  with  his 
army,  as  in  other  matters,  is  the  character  of  the  man, 
how  he  contrived  to  hold  for  three  years  —  and  long 
after  —  the  absolute  devotion  of  scores  of  thousands  of 
soldiers.  Other  generals  have  led  loyal  and  enthusiastic 
armies  from  victory  to  victory.  This  general  held  affec 
tion  and  confidence  unshaken  through  defeat,  disaster, 
and  final  ruin.  And  the  army  that  loved  him  was  an  army 
to  be  proud  of,  "  the  best  army,"  says  one  of  its  generous 
opponents,  "  which  has  existed  on  this  continent."  i 

Lee  built  up  his  army  before  he  commanded  it.  Dur 
ing  the  early  months  of  the  war  he  was  busy  at  Rich 
mond  getting  the  troops  ready  for  the  field,  and  it  was 
he  more  than  any  one  else  who  transformed  a  chaotic 
afflux  of  volunteers  into  the  semblance  of  an  organized 
force  which  beat  another  semblance  at  the  first  battle  of 
Bull  Run.  Even  those  who  long  doubted  Lee's  ability 
as  a  commander  admitted  his  gift  for  extracting  order 
out  of  confusion,  his  patient  industry,  his  clear  system, 
his  tact  in  smoothing  rough  tempers  and  harmonizing 
wills  that  jarred.  "  In  the  space  of  two  months,"  says 
Colonel  Long,  "  he  was  able  to  equip  for  the  field  sixty 
regiments  of  infantry  and  cavalry,  besides  numerous 


LEE  AND   HIS  ARMY  101 

batteries  of  artillery,  making  an  aggregate  of  nearly 
fifty  thousand  men." 

With  this  constructive  experience  behind  him,  Lee 
continued  throughout  the  war  to  treat  his  army  not  as 
a  mere  fighting  machine,  but  as  a  human  body  which 
must  be  fed  and  clothed,  or  ought  to  be,  for  even  his 
efforts  could  not  accomplish  the  impossible.  He  enjoins 
upon  his  subordinate  officers  care  for  the  well-being  of 
their  men.  "Do  not  let  your  troops  run  down,  if  it  can 
possibly  be  avoided  by  attention  to  their  wants,  com 
forts,  etc.,  by  their  respective  commanders." 2  His  con 
stant  appeals  to  the  Richmond  authorities  for  provisions, 
with  graphic  statement  of  the  soldiers'  sufferings,  are 
pathetic  in  their  earnestness.  Submissive  as  he  was  to 
superior  officials,  he  resented  at  once  any  indication  that 
his  men  were  being  sacrificed  to  other  commands  else 
where.  "  I  have  been  mortified  to  find  that  when  any 
scarcity  existed,  this  was  the  only  army  in  which  it  is 
found  necessary  to  reduce  the  rations."  3  The  best  evi 
dence  of  his  care  is  that  the  soldiers  trusted  him  and 
were  willing  to  starve,  if  he  bade  them.  It  is  recorded 
that  a  private  once  wrote  saying  that  he  could  not  do  his 
work  on  his  rations  and  asking  if  the  general  knew  what 
they  were,  as,  if  he  did,  it  must  be  that  the  scarcity  was 
unavoidable  and  the  men  would  do  the  best  they  could. 
Lee  made  no  direct  answer,  but  explained  the  situation 
in  a  general  order.  "  After  that  there  was  not  a  murmur 
in  the  army."  4 


LEfi  THE  AMERICAN 

So  with  the  less  pressing  but  not  less  serious  need  of 
clothing.  Near  the  end  of  the  war  Lee  writes  that  the 
men  "  were  greatly  exposed  in  line  of  battle  two  days, 
had  been  without  meat  for  three  days,  and  in  scanty 
clothing  took  the  cold  hail  and  sleet."  5  It  was  on  a  pass 
age  similar  to  this  that  Davis  noted  characteristically, 
"  these  things  are  too  sad  to  be  patiently  considered  "  ; 
but  I  am  not  aware  that  he  rose  up  in  anger  and  made 
somebody  consider  them.  Frequently  Lee  is  obliged 
to  allege  the  utter  destitution  of  his  troops  as  a  reason 
for  not  making  a  forward  movement,  and  in  doing  so  he 
expresses  his  admiration  for  all  they  have  been  able  to 
accomplish.  "  Nothing  prevented  my  continuing  in  his 
front  but  the  destitute  condition  of  the  men,  thousands 
of  whom  are  barefooted,  a  greater  number  partially  shod, 
and  nearly  all  without  blankets,  overcoats,  or  warm 
clothing.  I  think  the  sublimest  sight  of  the  war  was  the 
cheerfulness  and  alacrity  exhibited  by  this  army  in  the 
pursuit  of  the  enemy  under  all  the  trials  and  privations 
to  which  it  was  exposed."  6  And  it  is  with  the  grief  of  a 
mortified  parent  that  he  expresses  his  surprise  at  finding 
some  of  his  followers  ready  to  take  advantage  of  the 
necessities  of  others.  "It  has  also  been  reported  that 
some  men  in  this  army  have  been  so  unmindful  of 
their  obligations  to  their  comrades,  and  of  their  own 
characters,  as  to  engage  in  the  occupation  of  purchasing 
supplies  of  food  and  other  things,  for  the  purpose  of  sell 
ing  them  at  exorbitant  prices  to  their  fellow  soldiers."  7 


LEE  AND   HIS  ARMY  103 

It  was  indeed  always  as  a  parent,  not  merely  as  a 
military  superior,  that  Lee  believed  in  controlling  and 
disciplining  his  army.  This  attitude  led  to  a  certain  free 
dom  of  discipline  which  did  not  wholly  satisfy  those 
accustomed  to  European  methods.  "  Two  defects  as  a 
general  were  ascribed  to  him  personally,"  says  a  German 
critic,  "  an  indifference  to  discipline  and  a  too  kindly 
consideration  for  incompetent  officers."  8  And  even  Davis 
remarked  that  "  his  habit  of  avoiding  any  seeming  harsh 
ness  .  .  .  was  probably  a  defect."  9  Yet  if  the  object  of 
discipline  is  to  make  troops  efficient  and  enthusiastic,  it 
can  hardly  be  said  that  Lee  failed.  An  eye-witness,  by 
no  means  uncritical  and  writing  on  the  spot,  says  :  "  In 
Lee's  army  everything  is  reduced  down  to  the  smallest 
compass  and  the  discipline  and  obedience  of  the  officers 
and  men  is  perfect." 10  While  Hooker,  an  enemy  who 
had  felt  the  results,  if  he  had  not  watched  the  processes, 
testified  :  "  With  a  rank  and  file  vastly  inferior  to  our 
own,  intellectually  and  physically,  that  army  has,  by  dis 
cipline  alone,  acquired  a  character  for  steadiness  and 
efficiency,  unsurpassed,  in  my  judgment,  in  ancient  or 
modern  times.  We  have  not  been  able  to  rival  it,  nor 
has  there  been  any  near  approximation  to  it  in  the  other 
rebel  armies."  n 

Some  good  observers,  notably  Mr.  Eggleston,  do  not 
agree  with  Hooker  as  to  the  original  quality  of  Lee's 
soldiers.  Undoubtedly  the  best  intelligence  and  educa 
tion  of  the  South  went  right  into  the  ranks ;  but  this  ele- 


104  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

ment  was  naturally  outbalanced  by  poverty  and  ignor 
ance,  and  the  average  Southern  soldier  was  less  com 
mon-schooled  than  the  Northern,  because  the  same  thing 
was  true  of  the  average  Southern  citizen.  In  any  case,  it 
was  a  popular  army,  composed  of  American  freemen; 
and  from  the  point  of  view  of  discipline,  Lee,  with  his 
perfect  human  sympathy,  at  once  seized  this  fact  in  all 
its  bearings.  "  There  is  a  great  difference,"  he  said  to 
Colonel  Long,  "  between  mercenary  armies  and  volunteer 
armies,  and  consequently  there  must  be  a  difference  in 
the  mode  of  discipline.  The  volunteer  army  is  more  eas 
ily  disciplined  by  encouraging  a  patriotic  spirit  than  by 
a  strict  enforcement  of  the  articles  of  war." 12  When  Schei- 
bert  commended  the  bravery  of  Jackson's  troops  at 
Chancellorsville,  Lee  said :  "  Give  me  Prussian  forma 
tions  and  Prussian  discipline,  and  you  would  see  very 
different  results."  13 

This  does  not  mean  that  Lee  overlooked  the  absolute 
need  of  severity  in  dealing  with  refractory  soldiers  or  was 
foolishly  averse  to  it.  "You  must  establish  rigid  disci 
pline,"  he  writes  to  a  subordinate  at  the  very  beginning 
of  the  war.14  He  insisted  everywhere  on  order  and  clean 
liness.  "  Colonel,"  he  said  to  an  officer  who  begged  for 
a  visit,  "a  dirty  camp  gives  me  nausea.  If  you  say  your 
camps  are  clean,  I  will  go."  15  He  endeavored,  as  far  as 
possible,  to  repress  camp  vices,  especially  gambling. 
"  The  general  commanding  is  pained  to  learn  that  the 
vice  of  gambling  exists  and  is  becoming  common  in  this 


LEE  AND   HIS  ARMY  105 

army  ...  it  was  not  supposed  that  a  habit  so  pernici 
ous  and  demoralizing  would  be  found  among  men  en 
gaged  in  a  cause  demanding  the  highest  virtue  and 
purest  morality  in  its  supporters."  16  The  strictness  of  his 
orders  in  regard  to  pillage  during  his  invasions  of  the 
North  is  well  known ;  but  they  were  not  only  strict  in 
form,  they  were  carried  out  in  fact,  as  is  proved  by  the 
testimony  of  his  enemies,  to  the  lasting  glory  of  both 
army  and  commander.  Violation  of  these  orders  pro 
voked  Lee's  wrath  more  than  anything  except  brutal 
ity,17  and  when  he  himself  detected  one  soldier  in  theft, 
he  ordered  him  shot  immediately.  He  was  equally  ready 
to  inflict  the  death  penalty  in  cases  of  desertion,  when 
they  became  too  frequent,  and  had  again  and  again  to 
urge  the  necessity  of  rigor  upon  the  Richmond  author 
ities.  "  I  hope  I  feel  as  acutely  as  any  one  the  pain  and 
sorrow  that  such  events  occasion,  and  I  am  sure  that  no 
one  would  more  willingly  dispense  with  them,  if  they 
could  be  avoided  ;  but  I  am  convinced  that  the  only  way 
to  prevent  them  is  to  visit  the  offense,  when  committed, 
with  the  sternest  punishment,  and  leave  the  offender 
without  hope  of  escape,  by  making  the  penalty  inevit 
able."  " 

Yet  withal  he  was  lenient,  perhaps  too  lenient,  and 
longed,  as  a  father  would,  to  work  by  persuasion  rather 
than  by  violence.  "  This  is  a  case,"  he  wrote  in  one  in 
stance,  "where  possible  error  is  better  than  probable 
wrong";19  and  doubtless  he  applied  the  rule  in  many 


106  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

instances  When  an  angry  officer  wanted  to  disband  a 
whole  company  for  cowardice,  Lee  defended  them.  "  For 
the  bad  behavior  of  a  few,  it  would  not  appear  just  to 
punish  the  whole."  20  And  always  his  method  was  to  get 
work  done  by  kindly  urgency,  by  playful  rallying,  by 
sympathetic  encouragement,  rather  than  by  the  spur  or 
the  lash:  "  General  Lee,  taking  his  daily  ride  about  the 
lines,  came  on  me  while  the  working  parties  were  dig 
ging  and  spading.  His  greeting  was,  *  Good-morning, 
my  young  friend,  I  feel  sorry  for  you.'  'Why  so,  Gen 
eral  ? '  '  Because  you  have  so  much  to  do/  answered  the 
commander,  the  gleaming  white  teeth  showing  his  pleas 
ant  humor,  as  he  continued  his  ride.  He  generally  had 
some  such  words  to  let  one  know  he  expected  a  lot  of 
work  out  of  him."  21 

Discipline  of  officers  is  a  more  delicate  matter  than 
discipline  of  soldiers  and  requires  an  even  finer  tact, 
sympathy,  and  divination  of  character.  Here  also  Lee 
always  remembered  that  he  commanded  an  army  of 
American  freemen,  accustomed  to  vote  and  to  criticize 
everything  and  everybody.  He  let  them  say  their  say, 
asked  their  advice  often,  and  occasionally  followed  it. 
Yet  it  is  sometimes  difficult  to  reconcile  their  free  and 
easy  ways  with  any  idea  of  military  subordination.  Take, 
for  example,  that  hard  fighter  and  true-hearted  gentle 
man,  James  Longstreet.  I  do  not  wish  here  to  discuss 
his  conduct  at  Gettysburg.  But  when  I  consider  that 
conduct  in  the  light  of  various  passages  in  his  letters  to 


LEE  AND   HIS  ARMY  107 

his  chief,  I  feel  myself  more  in  a  position  to  understand 
it.  What  would  have  happened  to  Ney  or  Souk,  if  he 
had  addressed  the  first  Napoleon  in  this  wise:  "I  am 
pleased  at  all  times  to  have  any  suggestions  that  you 
may  make,"  22  or  again,  "  There  are  several  little  points 
upon  which  you  should  be  posted  before  the  interview, 
and  I  do  not  see  how  I  can  well  do  this  by  writing."  23 
Longstreet  patronized  his  great  commander  as  he  would 
a  budding  subaltern.  "I  wrote  a  note  to  General  Lee 
.  .  .  and  cautioned  him  to  make  his  arrangements  to 
return  that  night."  24  With  men  of  this  stamp  discipline 
was  not  always  a  simple  matter,  as  appears  from  some 
of  the  experiences  of  Jackson. 

The  summary  methods  of  Jackson  did  not  appeal  to 
Lee,  who,  instead  of  the  guardhouse,  employed  tact  as 
soothing  as  it  was  inexhaustible.  The  hot-headed  Stuart 
demands  justification  against  some  criticism.  Lee  writes 
to  him  :  "  I  prefer  your  acts  to  speak  for  themselves,  nor 
does  your  character  or  reputation  require  bolstering  up 
by  out-of-place  expressions  of  my  opinion."  25  It  becomes 
necessary  to  dismiss  Early  from  command,  in  spite  of 
good  service,  because  he  has  lost  the  confidence  of  his 
troops.  Lee  dismisses  him,  but  states  the  facts  so  sym 
pathetically  that  he  loses  no  jot  of  Early 's  affection,  who 
could  say  after  the  war,  "  It  is  difficult  for  those  who  did 
not  know  him  personally  to  understand  the  wonderful 
magnanimity  of  character  which  induced  General  Lee 
often  to  take  the  chances  of  incurring  censure  himself 


io8  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

rather  than  run  the  risk  of  doing  possible  injustice  to 
another."  26 

Not  that  Lee  could  not  rebuke,  and  sternly.  When 
the  Confederates  were  flying  from  Five  Forks,  he  turned 
to  a  general  officer  and  ordered  him,  with  marked  em 
phasis,  to  collect  and  put  under  guard  "all  the  strag 
glers  on  the  field,"  27  showing  that  he  meant  to  include 
many  of  his  officers  as  well  as  men.  On  another  occa 
sion  he  said  to  a  dilatory  commander :  "  General,  I  have 
sometimes  to  admonish  General  Stuart  or  General  Gor 
don  against  being  too  fast,  I  shall  never  have  occasion 
to  find  that  fault  with  you."  28 

But  usually  he  gave  his  criticism  some  turn  of  sympa 
thetic  suggestion  or  even  of  kindly  laughter.  It  is  to  be 
noted  that  the  success  of  this  method  depends  upon  the 
person  who  uses  it,  and  there  are  times  when  one  prefers 
a  straight-out,  sharp  order,  to  a  would-be  pleasant  insin 
uation.  I  confess  that  Lee's  amiable  reprimands  some 
times  suggest  to  me  Xenophon's  remark  about  Proxenus, 
that  "  he  was  fit  to  command  the  good  ;  but  he  could  not 
instill  fear  into  the  soldiers,  and  it  seemed  that  he  had 
more  consideration  for  those  he  commanded  than  those 
he  commanded  had  for  him."  Proxenus  could  not  have 
won  the  battle  of  Chancellorsville,  however ;  and  it  ap 
pears  that  Lee  was  feared,  for  all  his  mildness.  "  I  believe 
all  his  officers  feared  him,"  says  Major  Ranson.  "  They 
loved  him  as  men  are  seldom  loved,  but  they  feared  him 
too."  29  As  to  the  reprimands,  the  best-known  instance 


LEE  AND   HIS  ARMY  109 

is  that  of  the  officer  with  the  condition  of  whose  lines 
Lee  was 'far  from  satisfied.  As  they  rode  together,  the 
general  remarked,  "  That  is  a  magnificent  horse,  Gen 
eral  ,  but  I  should  not  think  him  safe  for  Mrs.  — — 

to  ride.  He  is  entirely  too  spirited  for  a  lady,  and  I 
would  urge  you  by  all  means  to  take  some  of  the  mettle 
out  of  him  before  you  suffer  her  to  ride  him  again.  And, 
by  the  way,  General,  I  would  suggest  to  you  that  the 
rough  paths  along  these  trenches  would  be  admirable 
ground  over  which  to  tame  him."  30  Another  interesting 
case  —  made  a  little  suspicious  by  the  profanity  —  is 
that  of  the  staff  officer  who  took  the  liberty  of  altering 
orders  to  meet  circumstances.  Lee  made  no  comment 
at  the  time,  but  later  at  dinner  he  told  the  story  of  Gen 
eral  Twiggs,  whose  staff  were  always  altering  orders, 
until  he  finally  remarked  to  one  of  them  :  "  Captain, 
I  know  you  can  prove  that  you  are  right,  and  that  my 
order  was  wrong,  in  fact  you  gentlemen  always  are 
right,  but  for  God's  sake,  do  wrong  sometimes."  31 

Among  Lee's  greatest  difficulties  in  dealing  with  his 
officers  was,  of  course,  the  question  of  promotion.  Ap 
parently  every  man  in  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia 
felt  himself  perfectly  competent  to  be  commander  of  it, 
except  the  man  who  had  the  honor  of  filling  that  office, 
and  Stuart  is  said  to  have  remarked  sarcastically  of  the 
troops  in  general :  "  They  are  pretty  good  officers  now 
and  after  a  while  will  make  excellent  soldiers  too.  They 
only  need  reducing  to  the  ranks."  32  "  In  an  army,"  says 


no  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

Dumas  in  his  rollicking  fashion,  "  everybody,  from  the 
second  in  command  to  the  rawest  recruit,  desires  the 
death  of  somebody."  This  is  quite  legitimate.  What  is 
not  so  is  to  spend  time  and  temper,  not  your  own,  in 
complaining,  fretting,  and  repining.  Too  many  high 
Confederate  officers,  J.  E.  Johnston  among  others,  showed 
a  sensitiveness  and  pettiness  on  the  subject,  which  was 
as  unbecoming  as  it  was  thoroughly  human. 

Lee  himself  at  all  times  absolutely  disclaimed  any 
eagerness  for  advancement.  "  I  think  rank  of  trivial  im 
portance  so  that  it  is  sufficient  for  the  individual  to  exer 
cise  his  command."33  Again  and  again  he  offered  to 
serve  wherever  and  however  his  superiors  thought  he 
could  be  useful.  To  say  this  is  easy.  To  convince  others 
of  the  truth  of  it  is  less  so.  But  I  am  not  aware  that  any 
one  has  ever  questioned  Lee's  sincerity.  There  was  that 
about  him,  in  manner  and  still  more  in  action,  which 
proved  that  he  thought  only  of  his  country  and  his  duty. 
Testimony  is  hardly  needed,  but  Stiles  offers  a  bit,  which 
is  impressive,  if  somewhat  astounding.  "I  never  but 
once  heard  of  such  a  suggestion  [that  Lee  acted  from 
other  than  the  purest  motives],  and  then  it  so  trans 
ported  the  hearers  that  military  subordination  was  for 
gotten  and  the  colonel  who  heard  it  rushed  with  drawn 
sword  against  the  major-general  who  made  it."  84 

Nor  does  there  seem  to  be  much  disposition  to  accuse 
Lee  of  favoritism.  He  certainly  had  no  hand  in  the  ad 
vancement  of  his  own  sons,  who  rose  steadily  by  their 


LEE  AND   HIS  ARMY  in 

merit.  He  refuses  a  friend's  application  for  a  staff  posi 
tion,  because  "  persons  on  my  staff  should  have  a  know 
ledge  of  their  duties  and  an  experience  of  the  wants  of 
the  service  to  enable  me  to  attend  to  other  matters." 35 
It  is  indeed  alleged  that  he  was  partial  to  Virginia,  not 
ably  in  the  case  of  A.  P.  Hill ;  but  the  charge  comes 
from  sources  too  prejudiced  to  deserve  much  attention. 
Even  those  who  complain  bitterly  of  the  jealousy  and 
narrowness  of  the  West  Point  tradition  do  not  seem  to 
include  Lee  in  their  animosity.  Thus  Tyler  writes  to 
Price :  "  I  have  found  myself  laboring  under  the  odium 
of  the  little  West  Pointers  in  Richmond  and  their  parti 
sans.  They  oppose  me  in  the  War  Office  at  all  points  in 
regard  to  any  and  every  wish."  36  But  in  the  same  letter 
he  says  of  Lee:  " Without  parade,  haughtiness,  or  as 
sumption,  he  is  elevated  in  his  thought  and  feeling,  and 
is  worthy  of  the  cause  he  represents  and  the  army  he 
commands."  37 

One  thing  is  beyond  dispute,  no  personal  considera 
tion  was  allowed  to  enter  into  his  decisions.  When  he 
urged  the  promotion  of  a  certain  officer,  it  was  pointed 
out  that  that  officer  had  been  very  free  in  criticizing  the 
general.  "  The  question  is,"  Lee  answered,  "  not  what  he 
thinks  or  is  pleased  to  say  about  me,  but  what  I  think 
about  him."  38 

It  would  be  impossible  to  estimate  the  time,  the 
strength,  the  nervous  energy  that  must  have  been  ex 
pended  in  counseling  patience,  in  soothing  injured 


ii2  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

vanity,  in  forestalling-  complaints,  and  in  urging  the  sac 
rifice  of  personal  gain,  credit,  and  advantage  to  the  cause 
which  all  were  bound  to  serve.  He  writes  to  one  officer 
—  and  the  letter  is  typical :  "  Recognizing  as  fully  as  I 
do  your  merit,  patriotism,  and  devotion  to  the  state,  I  do 
not  consider  that  either  rank  or  position  are  necessary  to 
bestow  upon  you  honor,  but  believe  that  you  will  confer 
honor  on  the  position.  In  the  present  crisis  of  affairs,  I 
know  that  your  own  feelings,  better  than  any  words  of 
mine,  will  point  out  the  course  for  you  to  pursue  to  ad 
vance  the  cause  in  which  you  are  engaged." 39  Without 
the  power  to  make  promotions  himself,  and  obliged, 
even  in  suggesting,  to  exercise  the  utmost  consideration 
towards  a  jealous  and  sensitive  superior,  Lee,  like  Wash 
ington,  was  forced  to  use  infinite  tact  and  sympathy  in 
order  to  harmonize  the  claims  that  conflicted  about  him. 
But  he  seems  to  have  been  more  fortunate  than  Wash 
ington  in  that  at  least  his  officers  did  not  conspire  and 
intrigue  against  himself. 

If  they  did  not  quarrel  with  him,  they  sometimes  quar 
reled  with  each  other,  however,  and  so  added  to  his 
troubles.  Jackson's  repeated  difficulties  with  A.  P.  Hill 
will  call  for  more  extended  discussion  in  connection  with 
Lee  and  Jackson.  But  among  all  these  high-spirited 
young  men  dissensions  and  jealousies  were  almost  in 
evitable  and  with  little  tradition  of  discipline  to  re 
strain  them  they  were  perpetually  breaking  out,  to  the 
detriment  of  the  service  and  the  extreme  discomfort  of 


LEE  AND   HIS  ARMY  113 

the  general.  An  officer  of  large  experience  writes :  "  I 
have  myself  heard  a  major-general  send  a  message  back 
to  army  headquarters  by  a  staff  officer  of  General  Lee, 
that  he  did  n't  see  why  his  division  should  be  expected 
to  abandon  the  position  they  had  fought  for  just  to  ac 
commodate  General  -  — ,  whose  troops  had  fallen  back 
where  his  had  driven  the  enemy." 40  In  Lee's  early  days 
of  command  he  had  to  reconcile  the  animosities  of  Wise 
and  Floyd.  He  did  it  in  words  as  noble  as  they  are  sim 
ple  :  '  You  have  spoken  to  me  of  want  of  consultation 
and  concert ;  let  that  pass,  till  the  enemy  is  driven  back, 
and  then,  as  far  as  I  can,  all  shall  be  arranged.  I  expect 
this  of  your  magnanimity."  41  Later  the  bellicose  A.  P. 
Hill  quarreled  with  Longstreet  over  the  praise  accorded 
to  their  respective  commands  by  newspaper  correspond 
ents  and  it  is  even  said  that  a  duel  had  been  arranged ; 
but  Lee's  patience  and  tact  averted  such  an  extremity.42 
The  most  fruitful  source  of  all  these  differences  was 
the  incurable  human  disposition  to  put  the  blame  for 
one's  failures  on  somebody  else.  No  doubt  Lee's  noble 
example  in  constantly  refusing  to  do  this  himself  had  a 
wide  influence  on  others.  It  is  reported  that  after  the 
war  he  told  a  publisher  that  he  could  not  write  his  mem 
oirs,  because  to  do  it  honestly  would  ruin  too  many 
reputations.  This  does  not  sound  quite  genuine ;  but  we 
do  know  that  after  Gettysburg  he  wrote  as  follows  to 
Pickett  with  reference  to  the  latter's  official  report  of  the 
battle:  "You  and  your  men  have  crowned  yourselves 


114  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

with  glory,  but  we  have  the  enemy  to  fight,  and  must 
carefully,  at  this  critical  moment,  guard  against  dissen 
sions  which  the  reflections  in  your  report  will  create.  I 
will,  therefore,  suggest  that  you  destroy  both  copy  and 
original."  43  And  Pickett  did  it. 

As  to  his  personal  relations  with  his  officers,  I  doubt 
if  any  of  them  ever  felt  entirely  at  ease  with  him.  They 
were  mostly  younger  men  than  he,  but  even  in  his  early 
days  he  seems  to  have  had  few  intimate  associates,  and 
age  probably  softened  his  natural  dignity  and  gravity 
rather  than  increased  it.  Not  that  there  was  any  stiffness 
about  him  or  any  pretense.  I  imagine  that  in  his  secret 
heart  he  envied  the  young  fellows  their  careless  ways, 
their  idle  jests,  their  trifling  laughter.  He  liked  Stuart's 
rollicking  nonsense,  liked  to  listen  to  the  Irish  banjo- 
player,  Sweeny.  One  night  when  the  singing  was  un 
usually  uproarious,  he  stepped  out  of  his  tent  and  noted 
with  a  smile  a  black  jug  perched  on  a  boulder :  "  Gentle 
men,  am  I  to  thank  General  Stuart  or  the  jug  for  this 
fine  music  ?  "  44  He  liked  occasionally  to  pass  a  quiet  joke 
himself.  Still,  he  was  no  talker,  no  story-teller,  knew 
nothing  of  the  fine  art  of  being  idle ;  and  even  in  the 
midst  of  a  hundred  thousand  men  who  loved  him  I  think 
he  was  very  solitary. 

This  does  not  mean  that  he  secluded  himself,  or  kept 
apart,  absorbed  in  his  own  thoughts.  He  discussed  his 
plans  freely  with  those  in  whom  he  had  confidence  and 
would  ask  a  young  officer's  opinion  of  great  questions  with 


LEE  AND   HIS  ARMY  115 

a  frankness  as  winning  as  it  was  sincere.  "  Colonel 
Long/'  he  said  before  Gettysburg,  "do  you  think  we 
had  better  attack  without  the  cavalry  ?  If  we  do,  we  will 
not,  if  successful,  be  able  to  reap  the  fruits  of  victory."  45 

Also,  he  was  constantly  attentive  to  the  comfort  of 
those  about  him.  On  the  retreat  from  Pennsylvania  he 
rebuked  his  aide,  Colonel  Venable,  for  telling  bad  news 
too  loudly.  Venable  was  high-spirited  and  did  not  like 
it,  nor  did  a  kindly  invitation  to  drink  buttermilk  en 
tirely  soothe  him.  Shortly  afterwards  the  aide,  worn 
out  with  running  and  watching,  lay  down  to  sleep  in  the 
mud  and  rain.  When  he  awoke,  he  found  that  the  gen 
eral  had  spread  his  own  oilskin  over  him.46 

As  to  the  ease  of  approaching  the  commander-in-chief 
on  matters  of  business,  accounts  differ.  Grant  under 
stood  that  he  was  "  difficult  of  access  to  subordinates." 
Tyler,  in  his  invaluable  letter  to  Price,  giving  an  ac 
count  of  Lee's  army,  says  the  commander  is  "  almost 
unapproachable,  and  yet  no  man  is  more  simple,  or  less 
ostentatious,  hating  all  pretension."  47  Unapproachable 
—  yet  "the  scouts  compared  him  [Jackson]  with  Lee. 
The  latter  was  so  genial  that  it  was  a  pleasure  to  report 
to  him."  48  The  explanation  of  these  contradictions  is 
simply  that  Lee  mistrusted  his  good  nature.  He  knew 
that  a  complainant,  once  admitted,  would  waste  his  time, 
his  strength,  his  nerves ;  and  he  trained  his  aides  to  do 
needed  snubbing  vicariously.  As  Colonel  Venable  writes, 
"General  Lee  had  certain  wishes  which  his  aides-de- 


n6  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

camp  knew  well  they  must  conform  to.  They  did  not 
allow  any  friend  of  a  soldier  condemned  by  a  court  mar 
tial  to  reach  his  tent  for  personal  appeal.  ...  He  said 
that  with  the  great  responsibilities  resting  upon  him  he 
could  not  bear  the  pain  and  distress  of  such  applica 
tions."  49  And  when  officers  came  to  find  fault  in  regard 
to  their  promotion,  he  would  turn  them  over  to  an  aide 
with  the  old-fashioned  phrase,  "  Suage  him,  Colonel, 
suage  him." 50 

By  these  methods  Lee  kept  a  certain  remoteness, 
which  did  not  hurt  his  popularity  and  helped  his  dig 
nity.  Men  loved  to  gaze  on  him.  "It  is  surprising  to 
see  how  eager  the  men  of  this  army  are  always  to  get  a 
good  view  of  General  Lee,  for  though  a  person  has 
seen  him  a  hundred  times,  yet  he  never  tires  looking  at 
him,"  is  the  charmingly  nai've  comment  of  a  correspond 
ent  of  the  "Richmond  Despatch"  in  1863. 51  On  the 
other  hand,  the  element  of  distance  is  most  happily  sug 
gested  by  the  remark  of  an  officer  to  Mrs.  Pickett.  "  Lee 
was  a  great  soldier  and  a  good  man,  but  I  never  wanted 
to  put  my  arms  round  his  neck,  as  I  used  to  want  to  do 
to  Joe  Johnston."  52 

Yet  when  occasion  brought  him  into  close  contact 
even  with  the  common  soldier,  his  manner  was  abso 
lutely  simple,  as  of  equal  to  equal,  of  man  to  man.  Once 
in  a  crowded  car  a  wounded  private  was  struggling  to 
draw  on  his  coat  over  a  bandaged  arm.  An  officer,  see 
ing  his  difficulty,  came  forward  and  tenderly  assisted 


LEE  AND   HIS  ARMY  117 

him. 53  It  was  the  commander-in-chief.  At  another  time 
Lee  had  sat  down  to  rest  in  the  shade  of  a  great  tree. 
A  busy  surgeon  wished  to  establish  his  headquarters 
there.  "  Old  man,  I  have  chosen  that  tree  for  my  field- 
hospital,  and  I  want  you  to  get  out  of  the  way."  Then 
he  discovered  his  mistake.  But  Lee  gently  relieved  the 
embarrassment  of  the  situation :  "  There  is  plenty  of 
room  for  both  of  us,  Doctor,  until  your  wounded  are 
brought."  54  Even  when  they  knew  him,  the  soldiers 
sometimes  took  incredible  liberties.  On  the  hottest  of 
July  days  one  of  them  left  the  ranks  and  approached 
the  general.  The  staff  tried  to  stop  him,  but  Lee  put 
them  aside  and  asked  what  he  wanted.  '  Please,  Gen 
eral,  I  don't  want  much,  but  it's  powerful  wet  marching 
this  weather.  I  was  looking  for  a  rag  or  something  to 
wipe  the  sweat  out  of  my  eyes."  "  Will  this  do  ?"  said 
the  general,  handkerchief  in  hand.  "  Yes,  my  Lordy,  that 
indeed ! "  "  Well,  then,  take  it  with  you,  and  back  quick  to 
ranks ;  no  straggling  this  march,  you  know,  my  man."  55 
In  more  serious  matters  Lee  was  equally  ready  to 
show  the  most  democratic  feeling.  A  devout  Christian 
himself,  he  thought  of  each  man  in  his  army  as  a  soul  to 
be  saved  and  in  every  way  he  could  encouraged  the  mis 
sion  and  revival  work  which  went  on  all  through  the  war 
with  ever-increasing  activity.  Even  in  the  midst  of  urg 
ent  duty  he  would  stop  and  take  part  in  a  camp  prayer- 
meeting,  and  listen  to  the  exhortations  of  some  ragged 
veteran,  as  a  young  convert  might  listen  to  an  apostle. 


n8  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

One  thing  doubtless  helped  his  hold  on  the  soldiers, 
as  it  helped  Napoleon's,  an  extraordinary  memory  for 
names,  faces,  and  characters.  The  value  of  this  in  deal 
ing  with  his  officers  was,  of  course,  inestimable.  "  Lee 
knew  his  army  man  by  man  almost,  and  could  judge  of 
the  probable  results  of  the  movement  here  announced 
by  the  name  of  the  officer  in  command."  56  With  the  pri 
vates  the  advantage  gained  was  less  direct  but  quite  as 
solid.  "  I  have  frequently  seen  him  recognize  at  once 
some  old  soldier  whom  he  had  barely  met  during  the 
war,  and  who  would  be  as  surprised  as  delighted  that  his 
loved  commander  had  not  forgotten  him."  57  Lee  himself 
is  reported  to  have  said  that  "  he  had  never  been  intro 
duced  to  a  soldier  of  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia 
whose  face  and  name  he  could  not  instantly  recall."  58 
This  I  doubt,  in  view  of  his  not  too  courteous  remark  to 
Grant,  at  the  time  of  the  surrender,  that  he  had  frequently 
endeavored  to  recall  his  features  from  their  acquaintance 
in  Mexico,  but  could  never  succeed  in  doing  so,  and  from 
another  anecdote  to  the  effect  that  he  was  extremely 
annoyed  at  not  recognizing  a  man  who  was  introduced 
to  him  after  the  war.  "I  was  really  much  ashamed  at 
not  knowing  the  gentleman  yesterday ;  I  ought  to  have 
recognized  him  at  once.  He  spent  at  least  an  hour  in  my 
quarters  in  the  City  of  Mexico  just  after  its  occupation 
by  the  American  army  \twenty  years  previous~\ ;  he  made 
a  very  agreeable  impression  on  me,  and  I  ought  not  to 
have  forgotten  him."  59 


LEE  AND   HIS  ARMY  119 

What  is  of  most  general  interest  in  this  matter  of  Lee's 
memory  of  individuals,  is  his  own  assertion  that  it  was 
not  a  special  gift,  but  purely  a  matter  of  attention,  which 
recalls  Lord  Chesterfield's  theory  that  attention  is  the 
most  exquisite  element  of  courtesy.  "  Want  of  attention, 
which  is  really  want  of  thought,  is  either  folly  or  mad 
ness.  You  should  not  only  have  attention  to  everything, 
but  a  quickness  of  attention,  so  as  to  observe,  at  once, 
all  the  people  in  the  room,  their  motions,  their  looks,  and 
their  words,  and  yet  without  staring  at  them,  and  seem 
ing  to  be  an  observer."  Only,  Lee  would  have  com 
pleted  Chesterfield's  idea  of  courtesy  by  that  other  ele 
ment  of  love,  which  Chesterfield  knew  nothing  about. 

Again,  like  some  other  great  commanders,  and  unlike 
others,  Lee  won  the  hearts  of  his  soldiers  by  living  as 
they  did.  He  managed  the  business  of  his  position  with 
as  little  fuss  and  parade  as  possible.  Foreign  officers 
were  struck  with  the  absolute  simplicity  of  his  arrange 
ments.  There  were  no  guards  or  sentries  around  his 
headquarters,  no  idle  aides-de-camp  loitering  about.  His 
staff  were  crowded  together,  two  and  three  in  a  tent,  and 
none  w@£e  allowed  to  carry  more  baggage  than  a  small 
box  each.  Tyler  writes  to  Price :  "  Your  own  headquarters 
are  more  numerous  and  bulky.  He  rides  with  only  three 
members  of  his  staff  and  never  takes  with  him  an  extra 
horse  or  servant,  although  he  is  upon  the  lines  usually 
from  daylight  until  dark." 60  His  dress  was  always  of  the 
simplest,  though  neat  and  tidy,  no  braid  or  gilding, 


120  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

nothing  but  the  stars  on  the  collar  to  indicate  his  rank. 
He  was  perfectly  Spartan  as  to  his  abiding-place,  almost 
never  leaving  his  tent  for  solid  walls  ;  and  he  was  espe 
cially  particular  that  there  should  be  no  intrusion  upon 
peaceful  citizens  for  his  comfort.  On  one  occasion  Colo 
nel  Long  had  established  the  headquarters  in  a  yard, 
but  the  general  insisted  on  moving,  lest  they  should 
annoy  the  residents.  Long,  thereupon,  rather  vexed, 
picked  out  another  spot  that  had  little  to  recommend  it ; 
but  Lee  was  perfectly  contented :  "  This  is  better  than 
the  yard.  We  will  not  now  disturb  these  good  people."  61 
At  another  time  Colonel  Taylor  made  everything  as 
agreeable  as  possible,  but  sighed  over  his  chief's  indif 
ference  :  "  It  was  entirely  too  pleasant  for  him,  for  he  is 
never  so  comfortable  as  when  uncomfortable."  62  This 
same  Colonel  Taylor  ventured  to  rally  the  general  a  little 
on  the  subject.  It  seems  that  Lee  had  the  best  bedroom, 
while  his  aide  was  obliged  to  put  up  with  the  parlor. 
"  Ah,  you  are  finely  fixed,"  remarked  the  great  soldier, 
as  he  looked  in  upon  his  subordinate.  "  Could  n't  you 
find  any  other  room?"  "No,  but  this  will  do."  "  He 
was  struck  dumb  with  amazement  at  my  impudence  and 
vanished."  63 

The  table  was  as  simple  as  the  dwelling-place.  Neat 
tin  camp  dishes  answered  for  the  service  and  the  food 
was  plain  as  the  tableware.  Very  frequently  there  was 
actual  scarcity ;  for  the  general  was  not  willing  to  have 
special  effort  made  for  him  when  the  soldiers  were  starv- 


LEE  AND   HIS  ARMY  121 

ing.  The  dinner  often  consisted  of  cabbage  boiled  with 
a  little  salt.  Sweet  potatoes  and  buttermilk  were  deemed 
luxury  and  when  the  commander-in-chief  offered  his 
luncheon  to  a  major-general,  it  was  found  to  consist  of 
two  cold  sweet  potatoes  of  which  Lee  said  he  was  very 
fond.  Even  when  better  was  provided,  the  general  re 
fused  it,  sending  delicacies  to  the  hospitals,  perhaps  not 
always  to  the  contentment  of  his  young  and  hungry 
staff.  On  the  last  march  to  Appomattox  Mrs.  Guild 
writes  :  "  When  we  would  camp  near  a  house,  they  would 
prepare  their  best  for  General  Lee ;  but  he  would  sleep 
in  his  tent  or  on  the  ground  with  his  staff,  and  say  that 
I  must  go  and  have  what  was  prepared  for  him."  64 

That  Lee  was  beloved  by  his  army  it  is  hardly  neces 
sary  to  say,  immensely  beloved,  beloved  as  few  generals 
have  ever  been.  In  the  first  place,  officers  and  soldiers 
trusted  him.  They  trusted  him  in  victory,  knew  that  he 
would  spare  their  toil  and  spare  their  blood  as  much  as 
was  possible,  would  make  no  move  for  barren  glory,  but 
only  for  their  good  and  his  country's.  What  is  far  more, 
they  trusted  him  in  defeat,  knew  that  he  would  do  every 
thing  that  could  be  done  and  would  save  them  from 
further  damage  if  human  skill  could  contrive  it.  They 
trusted  him  after  Gettysburg.  "  We  've  not  lost  confi 
dence  in  the  old  man,  this  day's  work  won't  do  him  any 
harm."  "  Uncle  Robert  will  get  us  into  Washington  yet ; 
you  bet  he  will."  65  They  trusted  him  in  the  dark  days 
of  the  Wilderness,  and  in  the  darker  days  of  Peters- 


122  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

burg.  If  he  could  not  help  them,  no  one  could.  Even 
the  hard-headed  and  critical  Longstreet  believed  that 
Lee  was  the  man.  "  We  need  some  such  great  mind  as 
General  Lee's,"  he  writes  from  Tennessee.66  When  the 
final  disaster  came,  the  universal  trust  in  the  general 
was  still  unshaken.  What  he  decides  is  right,  what  he 
says  is  the  thing  to  do  must  be  done.  One  of  the  coolest 
of  Confederate  authors  writes  of  the  surrender  :  "  Other 
men  fairly  raved  with  indignation,  and  declared  their 
desire  to  escape  or  die  in  the  attempt,  but  not  a  man 
was  heard  to  blame  General  Lee.  .  .  .  On  the  contrary, 
all  expressed  the  greatest  sympathy  for  him  and  declared 
their  willingness  to  submit  at  once,  or  fight  to  the  last 
man,  as  he  ordered  " 67 

An  army  may  trust  their  general  without  loving  him, 
however.  This  army  loved  him.  I  have  sought  far  and 
wide  for  expressions  of  jealousy,  of  hostility,  of  luke- 
warmness.  They  are  rare  indeed.  In  the  early  South 
Carolina  days  some  disaffection  appears.  "I  do  not 
know  if  it  prevails  elsewhere  in  the  army,"  writes  Gov 
ernor  Pickens  to  the  president,  "  but  I  take  the  liberty  to 
inform  you  that  I  fear  the  feelings  of  General  Ripley  to 
wards  General  Lee  may  do  injury  to  the  public  service. 
His  habit  is  to  say  extreme  things  even  before  junior 
officers,  and  this  is  well  calculated  to  do  injury  to  Gen 
eral  Lee's  command."  68  Occasionally  an  individual  frets 
over  some  disappointment  or  hindrance,  as  G.  W.  Smith 
in  North  Carolina:  "What  I  mean  to  say  is  that  General 


LEE  AND   HIS  ARMY  123 

Lee  in  command  of  an  army  at  Fredericksburg  is  not  in 
the  same  point  of  view  and  evidently  does  not  see  things 
precisely  as  they  appeared  to  him  when  General  Johnston 
commanded  that  army";69  or  the  petulant  A.  P.  Hill, 
near  the  close  of  the  struggle :"  It  is  arrant  nonsense 
for  Lee  to  say  that  Grant  can't  make  a  night  march 
without  his  knowing  it.  Has  not  Grant  slipped  round 
him  four  times  already  ?  " 70 

But  these  mild  and  scattered  notes  of  discordance  are 
completely  lost  in  the  general  chorus  of  love  and  loyalty. 
The  officers,  high  and  low,  vie  with  each  other  in  their 
expressions  of  enthusiasm,  none  being  more  complete 
and  touching  in  pregnant  brevity  than  that  of  Long- 
street  :  "All  that  we  have  to  be  proud  of  has  been  ac 
complished  under  your  eye  and  under  your  orders.  Our 
affections  for  you  are  stronger,  if  it  is  possible  for  them 
to  be  stronger,  than  our  admiration  for  you."  71  But  to 
me  the  simple  and  almost  inarticulate  devotion  of  the 
common  soldiers  is  even  more  beautiful  than  that  of 
their  superiors.  The  loving,  familiar  nicknames,  the 
quaint  anecdotes,  the  eagerness  to  see,  and  to  hear, 
and  to  obey,  mean  more  than  volumes  of  eulogy.  Curi 
ous  testimony  to  the  quality  of  the  feeling  the  soldiers 
had  is  furnished  by  several  independent  observers : 
"  When  he  appeared  in  the  presence  of  the  troops,  he 
was  sometimes  cheered  vociferously,  but  far  more  fre 
quently  his  coming  was  greeted  with  a  profound  silence 
which  expressed  more  truly  than  cheers  could  have  done 


i24  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

the  well-nigh  religious  reverence  with  which  the  men 
regarded  his  person."  72  This  is,  I  think,  a  phenomenon 
somewhat  rare  in  the  psychology  of  crowds.  Another 
interesting  bit  of  out-of-the  way  evidence  is  furnished  by 
a  writer  in  the  "  Richmond  Examiner"  in  August,  1864. 
It  had  been  proposed  to  offer  a  one  hundred  dollar  bond 
to  all  old  soldiers  who  had  served  faithfully,  but  this 
correspondent,  writing  from  the  army,  says :  "  The  sol 
diers  would  prefer  a  strip  of  parchment  in  the  shape  of 
a  certificate,  setting  forth  their  good  conduct  and  sol 
dierly  qualities,  signed  by  General  R.  E.  Lee.  This 
would  be  indeed  a  treasure  to  keep  in  after  years."  73 
Finally,  one  who  knew  both  general  and  army  well  sums 
up  the  matter  as  follows  :  "Such  was  the  love  and  ven 
eration  of  the  men  for  him  that  they  came  to  look  upon 
the  cause  as  General  Lee's  cause,  and  they  fought  for  it 
because  they  loved  him.  To  them  he  represented  cause, 
country,  and  all."  74 

If  we  seek  the  origin  of  this  extraordinary  personal 
devotion,  we  shall  be  told  that  it  was  magnetism.  Doubt 
less  there  was  some  intangible  element  in  the  matter, 
something  in  the  man's  bearing,  something  in  his  words, 
something  in  his  lofty  and  passionate  appeals,  which  won 
hearts  and  held  them.  A  concrete  instance  of  this  power 
appears  in  General  Alexander's  account  of  his  desire  to 
persuade  Lee  into  keeping  up  a  guerrilla  warfare  at  the 
time  of  the  surrender  and  of  the  effect  of  Lee's  answer : 
"  I  had  not  a  single  word  to  say  in  reply.  He  had  an- 


LEE  AND   HIS  ARMY  125 

swered  my  suggestion  from  a  moral  plane^so  far  above 
it  that  I  was  ashamed  of  having  made  it.  With  several 
friends  I  had  planned  to  make  an  escape  on  seeing  a 
flag  of  truce,  but  that  idea  was  at  once  abandoned  by  all 
of  them  on  hearing  my  report."  75 

I  think,  however,  the  general  explanation  of  the  sol 
dier's  love  for  Lee  is  much  simpler,  elementary,  in  fact, 
and  is  contained  in  the  nursery  rhyme  recording  the  ad 
ventures  of  Mary  and  her  little  lamb.  Lee  loved  his  men 
and  trusted  them.  It  is  curious  to  read  Wellington's  ex 
pressions  of  disgust  and  contempt  for  his  Peninsular 
army,  —  the  soldiers  "  were  detestable  for  anything  but 
fighting  and  the  officers  were  as  culpable  as  the 
men," — 76  and  then  to  turn  to  the  words,  ever  varied,  in 
which  Lee  declares  over  and  over  his  confidence  in  his 
followers  and  affection  for  them.  After  Gettysburg  he 
says  to  them  :  "  You  have  fought  a  fierce  and  sanguin 
ary  battle,  which,  if  not  attended  with  the  success  that 
has  hitherto  crowned  your  efforts,  was  marked  by  the 
same  heroic  spirit  which  has  commanded  the  respect  of 
your  enemies,  the  gratitude  of  your  country,  and  the  ad 
miration  of  mankind."  77  Without  rhetoric,  writing  pri 
vately,  he  says  of  them,  "  I  need  not  say  to  you  that  the 
material  of  which  this  army  is  composed  is  the  best  in 
the  world  and  if  properly  disciplined  and  instructed, 
would  be  able  successfully  to  resist  any  force  that  could 
be  brought  against  it.  Nothing  can  surpass  the  gallantry 
and  intelligence  of  the  main  body." 78  And  again,  "  There 


126  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

never  were  such  men  in  an  army  before.  They  will  go 
anywhere  and  do  anything,  if  properly  led." 79  His  sol 
diers  were  his  children,  and  he  mourned  their  loss  with 
a  parental  passion  of  grief:  "The  loss  of  our  gallant 
officers  and  men  throughout  the  army  causes  me  to 
weep  tears  of  blood,  and  to  wish  that  I  could  never  hear 
the  sound  of  a  gun  again."  80 

Is  it  any  wonder  that  his  men  loved  him,  or  that  their 
love  grew  with  the  years  and  after  the  war  they  haunted 
him  with  offers  of  service,  offers  of  protection,  offers  of 
actual  food,  touching  and  pathetic,  even  when  they  were 
mixed  with  ill-timed  drollery.  Of  all  the  numerous  anec 
dotes  bearing  on  this  point,  one  especially  is  full  of  tragic 
significance.  Lee  was  riding  alone  through  the  woods 
on  his  beloved  Traveler,  when  he  met  an  old  Confeder 
ate.  "Oh,  General,"  said  the  fellow,  "it  does  me  so 
much  good  to  see  you  that  I  'm  going  to  cheer."  The 
general  protested  the  utter  inappropriateness.  But  the 
man  cheered  just  the  same.  And  as  the  great  soldier 
passed  slowly  out  of  hearing  through  the  Virginia  for 
est,  it  seems  to  me  that  his  heart  and  his  eyes  must  have 
overflowed  at  the  thought  of  a  great  cause  lost,  of  fidel 
ity  in  ruin,  and  of  the  thousands  and  thousands  and  thou 
sands  who  had  cheered  him  once  and  in  spirit  would  go 
on  cheering  him  forever. 


VI 

LEE  AND  JACKSON 

JACKSON  was  a  born  fighter.  In  his  youth  he  fought 
poverty.  He  fought  for  an  education  at  West  Point. 
There  he  fought  his  way  through  against  prejudice  and 
every  disadvantage.  Fighting  in  Mexico,  he  thoroughly 
enjoyed  himself.  As  a  professor  at  the  Virginia  Military 
Institute  he  probably  did  not.  When  the  war  came,  it 
was  a  godsend  to  him ;  and  he  fought  with  every  nerve 
in  his  body  till  he  fell,  shot  by  his  own  soldiers,  at  Chan- 
cellorsville. 

For  pure  intellectual  power  he  does  not  seem  to  have 
been  remarkable.  He  learned  what  he  set  out  to  learn, 
by  sheer  effort.  What  interested  him  he  mastered.  With 
out  doubt  his  restless,  active  mind  would  have  fought 
abstract  problems,  if  it  had  found  nothing  else  to  fight. 
But  I  do  not  imagine  he  loved  thought  for  itself  or  had 
the  calm  breadth  to  study  impersonally  the  great  ques 
tions  of  the  world  and  flash  sudden,  sharp  illumination 
on  them,  as  did  Napoleon. 

And  Jackson  had  no  personal  charm.  He  was  courte 
ous,  but  with  a  labored  courtesy ;  he  was  shy,  abrupt, 
ungainly,  forgetful,  and  apt  to  be  withdrawn  into  him 
self.  His  fellow  students  admired  him,  but  shrank  from 
him.  His  pupils  laughed  at  his  odd  ways  and  did  not 


128  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

always  profit  by  his  teaching.  This,  before  his  star  shone 
out.  And  it  is  strange  to  contrast  such  neglect  with  the 
adoration  that  pressed  close  about  his  later  glory.  In  Mar- 
tinsburg  the  ladies  "  cut  every  button  off  his  coat,  com 
menced  on  his  pants,  and  at  one  time  threatened  to  leave 
him  in  the  uniform  of  a  Georgia  colonel  —  shirt-collar 
and  spurs."  1  Nothing  similar  is  recorded  of  Lee  —  even 
humorously. 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that,  though  unsuccessful  in 
general  society,  Jackson  lacked  warmth  or  human  kind 
ness.  He  was  sensitive,  emotional,  susceptible.  He  felt 
the  charm  of  art  in  all  its  forms.  He  read  Shakespeare, 
and  quoted  him  in  a  military  dispatch,  —  "  we  must  burn 
no  more  daylight,"  2  —  as  I  cannot  imagine  Lee  doing. 
When  he  was  in  Europe,  he  keenly  enjoyed  painting, 
and  architecture,  and  loved  to  talk  of  them  after  his  re 
turn,  entertaining  the  "  Times "  correspondent  with  a 
long  discussion  of  English  cathedrals,  partly,  to  be  sure, 
to  avoid  talk  on  things  military.  When  in  Mexico,  he 
was  charmed  by  the  Mexican  girls,  so  much  so  that  he 
fled  them,  as  Dr.  Johnson  fled  Garrick's  ballet.3  In  his 
youth  he  was  even  a  dancer.  When  age  and  religion 
came  upon  him,  he  used  still  to  indulge  for  exercise  in 
an  occasional  polka,  "but,"  as  Mrs.  Jackson  remarks, 
deliciously,  "  no  eye  but  that  of  his  wife  was  ever  per 
mitted  to  witness  this  recreation."  4  In  his  family  he  was 
tender,  affectionate,  playful,  sympathetic.  He  adored 
his  little  daughter  and  all  children.  "  His  abandon  was 


LEE  AND  JACKSON  129 

beautiful  to  see,  provided  there  were  only  one  or  two 
people  to  see  it.  " 5  His  letters  to  his  wife  are  ardent  and 
devoted,  full  of  an  outpouring  and  self-revelation  which 
one  never  finds  in  the  printed  letters  of  Lee. 

In  short,  he  was  a  man  with  a  soul  of  fire.  Action  was 
his  life.  To  do  something,  to  do  high,  heroic  things,  to 
do  them  with  set  lip  and  strained  nerve  and  unflinching 
determination,  —  to  him  this  was  all  the  splendor  of  ex 
istence.  In  his  youth  he  had  not  learned  Latin  well  and 
it  was  questioned  whether  he  could  do  it  in  age.  He 
said  he  could.  He  was  set  to  teach  matters  that  were 
strange  to  him  and  some  doubted  whether  he  could  do  it. 
He  said  he  could.  Extempore  prayer  came  to  him  with 
difficulty,  and  his  pastor  advised  his  not  attempting  it, 
if  he  could  not  do  it.  He  said  he  could.  "  As  to  the  rest, 
I  knew  that  what  I  willed  to  do,  I  could  do."  6  Such  a 
statement  has  its  foolish  side  and  takes  us  back  to  what 
I  said  above  about  Jackson's  intelligence.  Pure  intel 
ligence  sees  insurmountable  difficulties,  too  many  and 
too  plain.  Jackson,  if  ever  any  man,  came  near  to  being 
pure  will 

It  seems  that  his  courage,  flawless  as  it  was,  was  cour 
age  of  will  rather  than  of  stolid  temperament.  "  He  has 
told  me,"  says  his  sister-in-law,  "that  his  first  sight  of  a 
mangled  and  swollen  corpse  on  a  Mexican  battlefield 
filled  him  with  as  much  sickening  dismay  as  if  he  had 
been  a  woman."  7  And  Dabney  writes  :  "  It  was  not  un 
usual  to  see  him  pale  and  trembling  with  excitement  at 


i3o  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

the  firing  of  the  first  gun  of  an  opening  battle."  8  Yet 
his  power  of  concentration  was  so  enormous  that  when 
he  was  thinking  out  a  military  problem  he  forgot  bullet 
and  shell  and  wounds  and  death.  "  This  was  the  true 
explanation  of  that  seeming  recklessness  with  which  he 
sometimes  exposed  himself  on  the  field  of  battle."  9 

Also  he  had  the  magnetic  faculty  of  extending  to 
others  his  own  furious  determination.  He  could  demand 
the  impossible  of  them  because  he  performed  it  himself. 
"  Come  on,"  he  cried  in  Mexico,  "  you  see  there  is  no 
danger." 10  And  a  shot  passed  between  his  legs  spread 
wide  apart.  His  soldiers  marched  to  death,  when  he 
bade  them.  What  was  even  worse,  they  marched  at  the 
double  through  Virginia  mud,  without  shoes,  without 
food,  without  sleep.  "  Did  you  order  me  to  advance  over 
that  field,  sir?"  said  an  officer  to  him.  "  Yes,"  said  Jack 
son.  "Impossible,  sir!  My  men  will  be  annihilated! 
Nothing  can  live  there!  They  will  be  annihilated!" 

"General  ,"  said  Jackson,  "I  always  endeavor  to 

take  care  of  my  wounded  and  to  bury  my  dead.  You 
have  heard  my  order — obey  it."  n 

What  was  there  back  of  this  magnificent,  untiring,  in 
exhaustible  will  and  energy,  what  long  dream  of  glory, 
what  splendid  hope  of  imperishable  renown  ?  Or  was  it 
a  blind  energy,  a  mere  restless  thirst  for  action  and  ad 
venture,  unceasing,  unquenchable?  Something  of  the 
latter  there  was  in  it  doubtless,  of  the  love  of  danger  for 
its  pure  nerve-thrill,  its  unrivaled  magic  of  oblivion. 


LEE  AND  JACKSON  131 

"  Nothing  is  more  certain  than  that  this  love  of  action, 
movement,  danger,  and  adventure  was  a  prominent  trait 
in  his  organization,"  says  one  of  his  earlier  biogra 
phers.12  "  I  envy  you  men  who  have  been  in  battle. 
How  I  should  like  to  be  in  one  battle,"  he  remarked  in 
Mexico ; 13  and  he  confessed  that  to  be  under  fire  filled 
him  with  a  "  delicious  excitement."  14 

Nevertheless,  he  was  far  enough  from  being  a  mere 
common  sworder,  or  even  the  gay,  careless  fighter  who 
does  the  day's  work  and  never  looks  beyond  it.  In  his 
youth  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  he  dreamed  dreams  of 
immense  advancement,  of  endless  conquest,  of  triumph 
and  admiration  and  success.  During  the  war  some  one 
expressed  the  belief  that  Jackson  was  not  ambitious. 
"  Ambitious !"  was  the  answer.  "  He  is  the  most  am 
bitious  man  in  the  Confederacy."  We  have  his  own 
reported  words  for  his  feelings  at  an  earlier  date.  "  The 
only  anxiety  I  was  conscious  of  during  the  engagement 
was  a  fear  lest  I  should  not  meet  danger  enough  to 
make  my  conduct  conspicuous."  15  Most  striking  of  all 
is  Mrs.  Preston's  picture  of  him  before  Wolfe's  monu 
ment  at  Quebec.  He  "  swept  his  arm  with  a  passionate 
movement  around  the  plain  and  exclaimed,  quoting 
Wolfe's  dying  words, ( I  die  content,  —  '  to  die  as  he  died, 
who  would  not  be  content?'  "  16 

Very  little  things  often  throw  a  fine  light  on  character 
and  difference  of  character.  On  one  occasion,  as  the 
troops  were  marching  by,  they  had  been  forbidden  to 


132  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

cheer,  lest  the  noise  might  betray  them  to  the  enemy. 
When  Jackson's  own  brigade  passed  their  general,  how 
ever,  their  enthusiasm  was  too  much  for  any  prohibition, 
and  they  cheered  loud  and  long.  Jackson  smiled  as  he 
listened,  and  turning  to  those  beside  him  murmured, 
"  You  see,  I  can't  stop  them."  17  Whether  Lee  had  any 
ambition  or  not,  it  is  difficult  to  imagine  him  betrayed 
into  such  a  nai've  expression  as  this.  The  smile  might 
have  been  possible  for  him,  the  words  never. 

So  in  Jackson's  younger  days  his  devouring  ardor  fed 
on  worldly  hopes.  Then  religion  took  possession  of 
him,  not  suddenly,  but  with  a  gradual,  fierce  encroach 
ment  that  in  the  end  grasped  every  fibre  of  his  being. 
Like  a  very  similar  nature  in  a  different  sphere,  John 
Donne,  he  examined  all  creeds  first,  notably  the  Catho 
lic,  but  finally  settled  in  an  austere  and  sturdy  Calvinism. 
Not  that  his  religion  was  gloomy  or  bitterly  ascetic  ;  for 
it  had  great  depths  of  love  in  it  and  sunny  possibilities 
of  joy.  But  it  was  all-absorbing  and  he  fought  the  fight 
of  God  with  the  same  fury  that  he  gave  to  the  battles  of 
this  world.  There  must  be  no  weakness,  no  trifling,  no 
inconsistency.  "  He  weighed  his  lightest  utterance  in 
the  balance  of  the  sanctuary,"  writes  one  who  knew  him 
well. 18  Christians  are  enjoined  to  pray.  Therefore  Jack 
son  prayed  always,  even  in  association  with  the  lightest 
act.  "  I  never  raise  a  glass  of  water  to  my  lips  without  lift 
ing  my  heart  to  God  in  thanks  and  prayer  for  the  water 
of  life." 19  They  must  remember  the  Sabbath  day  to  keep 


LEE  AND  JACKSON  133 

it  holy.  Therefore  Jackson  not  only  refrained  from  writ 
ing  letters  on  Sunday  :  he  would  not  read  a  letter  on 
Sunday  ;  he  even  timed  the  sending  of  his  own  letters 
so  that  they  should  not  encumber  the  mails  on  Sunday. 20 
It  was  the  same  with  a  scrupulous  regard  for  truth. 
Every  statement,  even  indifferent,  must  be  exact,  or,  if 
inexact,  corrected.  And  Jackson  walked  a  mile  in  the 
rain  to  set  right  an  error  of  inadvertence. 21  The  wonder 
is  that  a  man  of  such  a  temper  accomplished  anything  in 
the  world  at  all.  I  confess  that  I  feel  an  unsanctified  sat 
isfaction  in  seeing  the  exigencies  of  war  override  and 
wither  this  dainty  scrupulousness.  It  is  true  they  cannot 
do  it  always.  "  Had  I  fought  the  battle  on  Sunday  in 
stead  of  on  Monday  I  fear  our  cause  would  have  suf 
fered."22  But  then  again,  the  Puritan  Lee  writes  to  the 
Puritan  Jackson  (italics  mine) :  "  I  had  hoped  her  own 
[Maryland's]  citizens  would  have  relieved  us  of  that 
question,  and  you  must  endeavor  to  give  to  the  course  you 
may  find  it  necessary  to  pursue  the  appearance  of  its  being 
the  act  of  her  own  citizens" 23  How  many  leagues  the 
praying  Jackson  should  have  walked  in  the  rain  to  cor 
rect  the  fighting  Jackson's  peccadilloes. 

And  now  how  did  Jackson's  ambition  and  his  religion 
keep  house  together?  His  admirers  maintain  that  re 
ligion  devoured  the  other  motive  completely.  "  Duty 
alone  constrained  him  to  forego  the  happiness  and  com 
forts  of  his  beloved  home  for  the  daily  hardships  of  a 
soldier's  life." 24  But  certain  of  his  reported  words  in  the 


134  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

very  closing  scene  make  me  think  that  the  thirst  for 
glory  was  as  ardent  as  ever,  even  if  it  had  a  little  shifted 
its  form.  "  I  would  not  agree  to  the  slightest  diminution 
of  my  glory  there  [in  heaven],  no,  not  for  all  the  fame 
which  I  have  acquired  or  shall  ever  win  in  this  world." 25 
It  does  not  sound  quite  like  the  chastened  spirit  of  a  son 
of  peace,  does  it  ? 

No,  the  early  Jackson  and  the  late  Jackson  were  the 
same  Jackson.  The  blare  of  trumpets,  the  crash  of  guns, 
the  cheers  of  an  adoring  army,  were  a  passionate  delight 
to  him  and  would  have  been  as  long  as  he  walked  this 
fighting  world.  Only  that  will,  which  by  itself  was 
mighty  force  enough,  was  doubled  and  tripled  in  power 
when  it  got  the  will  of  God  behind  it.  To  gratify  per 
sonal  ambition  the  man  might  have  hesitated  at  destruc 
tion  and  slaughter.  But  to  do  his  duty,  to  carry  out  the 
designs  of  Providence,  —  that  mission  must  override  all 
obstacles  and  subdue  all  scruples.  In  face  of  it  human 
agony  counted  simply  as  nothing.  Henderson,  who  is  re 
luctant  to  find  shadows  in  his  idol,  questions  the  authen 
ticity  of  Jackson's  interview  with  his  brother-in-law,  as 
reported  by  Mrs.  Jackson ;  but  I  am  perfectly  ready  to  be 
lieve  that  the  hero  of  the  Valley  declared  for  hoisting  the 
black  flag  and  giving  "  no  quarter  to  the  violators  of  our 
homes  and  firesides." 26  Certainly  it  is  not  denied  that 
when  he  was  asked  how  to  dispose  of  the  overwhelming 
numbers  of  the  enemy,  his  answer  was,  "  Kill  them,  sir  ! 
kill  every  man  1 " 27  And  again,  when  some  one  deplored 


LEE  AND  JACKSON  135 

the  necessity  of  destroying  so  many  brave  men,  "  No, 
shoot  them  all ;  I  do  not  wish  them  to  be  brave."  28 

Such  a  tremendous  instrument  as  this  might  have 
gone  anywhere  and  done  anything,  and  if  Jackson  had 
lived,  his  future  defies  prevision.  "  No  man  had  so  mag 
nificent  a  prospect  before  him  as  General  Jackson,"  wrote 
Lawley,  the  correspondent  of  the  "  London  Times." 
"  Whether  he  desired  it  or  not,  he  could  not  have  es 
caped  being  Governor  of  Virginia,  and  also,  in  the  opin 
ion  of  many  competent  judges,  sooner  or  later  President 
of  the  Confederacy." 29  But  this  regular  method  of 
ascent  would  have  been  slow.  When  things  went  wrong, 
when  politicians  intrigued  and  triumphed,  when  the 
needs  of  the  army  were  slighted  and  forgotten  for  petty 
jealousies,  Jackson  would  have  been  just  the  one  to  have 
cried  out,  "Here  is  man's  will,  where  is  God's  will?"  — 
just  the  one  to  have  felt  God's  strength  in  his  own  right 
arm,  to  have  purged  war  offices,  and  turned  out  con 
gresses,  and  made  incompetent  presidents  feel  that  they 
must  give  up  to  those  who  saw  more  clearly  and  judged 
more  wisely.  There  would  have  been  no  selfishness  in 
all  this,  no  personal  ambition,  because  it  would  have 
been  just  doing  the  will  of  God.  And  I  can  perfectly 
imagine  Jackson  riding  such  a  career  and  overwhelming 
every  obstacle  in  his  way  except  one  —  Robert  E.  Lee. 

When  Jackson  and  Lee  first  met  does  not  appear. 
Jackson  said  early  in  the  war  that  he  had  known  Lee 
for  twenty-five  years.  They  may  have  seen  something 


i36  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

of  each  other  in  Mexico.  If  so,  there  seems  to  be  no 
record  of  it.  At  any  rate,  Jackson  thought  well  of  Lee 
from  the  first,  and  said  of  him  when  he  was  appointed 
to  command  the  Virginia  forces,  "  His  services  I  regard 
as  of  more  value  to  us  than  General  Scott  could  render 
as  a  commander.  ...  It  is  understood  that  General 
Lee  is  to  be  commander-in-chief.  I  regard  him  as  a 
better  officer  than  General  Scott."30 

From  the  beginning  the  lieutenant's  loyalty  to  his 
chief  grew  steadily  ;  not  only  his  loyalty  but  his  personal 
admiration  and  affection.  I  like  the  elementary  expres 
sion  of  it,  showing  unconsciously  Jackson's  sense  of 
some  of  his  own  deficiencies,  in  his  remark  to  McGuire, 
after  visiting  Lee  in  the  hospital :  "  General  Lee  is  the 
most  perfect  animal  form  I  ever  saw." 31  But  illustra 
tions  on  a  somewhat  broader  plane  are  abundant 
enough.  "  General  Lee  has  always  been  very  kind  to 
me  and  I  thank  him,"  said  Jackson  simply,  as  he  lay  on 
his  deathbed. 32  The  enthusiasm  of  that  ardent  nature 
was  ever  ready  to  show  itself  in  an  almost  over-zealous 
devotion.  Lee  once  sent  word  that  he  should  be  glad  to 
talk  with  his  subordinate  at  his  convenience  on  some 
matter  of  no  great  urgency.  Jackson  instantly  rode  to 
headquarters  through  the  most  inclement  weather.  When 
Lee  expressed  surprise  at  seeing  him,  the  other  an 
swered:  "General  Lee's  lightest  wish  is  a  supreme  com 
mand  to  me,  and  I  always  take  pleasure  in  prompt 
obedience." 33  If  we  consider  what  Jackson's  nature 


LEE  AND  JACKSON  137 

was,  it  is  manifest  that  he  gave  the  highest  possible 
proof  of  loyalty,  when  it  was  suggested  that  he  should 
return  to  an  individual  command  in  the  Valley,  and  he 
answered  that  he  did  not  desire  it,  but  in  every  way 
preferred  a  subordinate  position  near  General  Lee. 34 

Jackson's  personal  affection  for  Lee  was,  of  course,  in 
timately  bound  up  with  confidence  in  his  military  ability. 
Even  in  the  early  days,  when  Jackson  had  been  in  vain 
demanding  reinforcements  and  word  was  brought  of 
Lee's  appointment  to  supreme  command,  Jackson's  com 
ment  was,  ''Well,  madam,  I  am  reinforced  at  last."35 
On  various  occasions,  when  others  doubted  Lee's  judg 
ment  or  questioned  his  decisions,  Jackson  was  entirely 
in  agreement  with  his  chief.  For  instance,  Longstreet 
disapproved  Lee's  determination  to  fight  at  Sharpsburg, 
and  Ropes  and  other  critics  have  since  condemned  it. 
Jackson,  however,  though  he  had  no  part  in  it,  gave  it 
his  entire  and  hearty  approval. 

I  do  not  find  anywhere,  even  in  the  most  private  let 
ters,  a  disposition  in  Jackson  to  quarrel  with  Lee's  plans 
or  criticize  his  arrangements.  On  the  contrary,  when 
objections  are  made,  he  is  ready  to  answer  them,  and 
eagerly,  and  heartily.  "General  Lee  is  equal  to  any 
emergency  that  may  arise.  I  trust  implicitly  in  his  great 
ability  and  superior  wisdom."  36  Jackson  had  plans  of 
his  own  and  sometimes  talked  of  them.  He  was  asked 
why  he  did  not  urge  them  upon  Lee.  "  I  have  done  so," 
was  his  answer.  "And  what  does  he  say  to  them?" 


i38  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

"  He  says  nothing.  But  do  not  understand  that  I  com 
plain  of  this  silence ;  it  is  proper  that  General  Lee  should 
observe  it.  He  is  wise  and  prudent.  He  feels  that  he 
bears  a  fearful  responsibility  and  he  is  right  in  declining 
a  hasty  expression  of  his  purpose  to  a  subordinate  like 
me."  37  Again,  some  one  found  fault  with  Lee's  slow 
ness.  Jackson  contradicted  warmly:  "General  Lee  is 
not  slow.  No  one  knows  the  weight  upon  his  heart,  his 
great  responsibility.  He  is  commander-in-chief  and  he 
knows  that  if  an  army  is  lost,  it  cannot  be  replaced.  No ! 
There  may  be  some  persons  whose  good  opinion  of  me 
will  make  them  attach  some  weight  to  my  views,  and  if 
you  ever  hear  that  said  of  General  Lee,  I  beg  you  will 
contradict  it  in  my  name.  I  have  known  General  Lee 
for  twenty-five  years;  he  is  cautious;  he  ought  to  be. 
But  he  is  not  slow."  38  And  he  concluded  with  one  of 
the  finest  expressions  of  loyalty  ever  uttered  by  a  sub 
ordinate,  and  such  a  subordinate :  "  Lee  is  a  phenomenon. 
He  is  the  only  man  I  could  follow  blindfold."  39  After 
this,  who  can  question  the  sincerity  of  the  words  spoken 
on  his  deathbed  :  "  Better  that  ten  Jacksons  should  fall 
than  one  Lee?"40 

And  what  did  Lee  think  of  Jackson  ?  As  always,  Lee's 
judgments  are  more  difficult  to  get  at.  In  spite  of  all 
respect  and  all  affection,  I  cannot  but  think  that  his  large 
humanity  shrank  a  little  from  Jackson's  ardors.  When 
he  told  a  lady,  with  gentle  playfulness,  that  General 
Jackson,  "who  was  smiling  so  pleasantly  near  her,  was 


LEE  AND  JACKSON  139 

the  most  cruel  and  inhuman  man  she  had  ever  seen,"  41 
I  have  no  doubt  it  was  ninety-nine^parts  playfulness,  but 
perhaps  there  was  one  part,  one  little  part,  earnest.  Even 
after  Antietam  his  military  commendation  of  Jackson 
was  very  restrained,  to  say  the  least.  "  My  opinion  of  the 
merits  of  General  Jackson  has  been  greatly  enhanced 
during  this  expedition.  He  is  true,  honest,  and  brave,  has 
a  single  eye  to  the  good  of  the  service,  and  spares  no 
exertions  to  accomplish  his  object."42  No  superlatives 
here.  Sharp  words  of  criticism,  even,  are  reported,  which, 
inexplicable  as  they  sound,  seem  to  come  with  excellent 
authority.  "  Jackson  was  by  no  means  so  rapid  a  marcher 
as  Longstreet  and  had  an  unfortunate  habit  of  never 
being  on  time."  43 

Yet  Lee's  deep  affection  for  his  great  lieutenant  and 
perfect  confidence  in  him  are  beyond  question.  It  has 
been  well  pointed  out  that  this  was  proved  practically 
by  the  fact  that  the  commander-in-chief  always  himself 
remained  with  Longstreet  and  left  Jackson  to  operate 
independently,  as  if  the  former  were  more  in  need  of 
personal  supervision.  Lee's  own  written  words  to  Jack 
son  are  also  —  for  Lee — very  enthusiastic:  "Your  re 
cent  successes  have  been  the  cause  of  the  liveliest  joy  in 
this  army  as  well  as  in  the  country.  The  admiration  ex 
cited  by  your  skill  and  boldness  has  been  constantly 
mingled  with  solicitude  for  your  situation." 44  Jackson's 
wound  and  death  and  the  realization  of  his  loss  pro 
duced  expressions  of  a  warmth  so  unusual  as  to  be  almost 


I4o  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

startling,  "  If  I  had  had  Stonewall  Jackson  at  Gettys 
burg,  I  should  have  won  that  battle."  45  "  Such  an  execu 
tive  officer  the  sun  never  shone  on.  I  have  but  to  show 
him  my  design,  and  I  know  that  if  it  can  be  done  it  will 
be  done."  46  The  messages  sent  to  the  dying  general  are 
as  appreciative  as  they  are  tender.  "  You  are  better  off 
than  I  am,  for  while  you  have  only  lost  your  left,  I  have 
lost  my  right  arm."47  "Tell  him  that  I  wrestled  in 
prayer  for  him  last  night,  as  I  never  prayed,  I  believe, 
for  myself."  48  (Yet  if  the  words  are  correctly  reported, 
note  even  here  the  most  characteristic  Lee-like  modifica 
tion,  /  believed)  And  only  those  who  are  familiar  with 
Lee  can  appreciate  the  agony  of  the  partiug  outcry, 
"' Jackson  will  not — he  cannot  die!'  General  Lee  ex 
claimed,  in  a  broken  voice  and  waving  every  one  from 
him  with  his  hand,  *  he  cannot  die.'  "  49 

The  study  of  the  practical  military  relations  of  the  two 
great  commanders  is  of  extreme  interest.  Lee  does  not 
hesitate  to  advise  Jackson  as  freely  as  he  would  any 
other  subordinate.  "  It  was  to  save  you  the  abundance 
of  hard  fighting  that  I  ventured  to  suggest  for  your  con 
sideration  not  to  attack  the  enemy's  strong  points,  but  to 
turn  his  positions  at  Warrenton,  etc.,  so  as  to  draw  him 
out  of  them.  I  would  rather  you  should  have  easy  fight 
ing  and  heavy  victories.  I  must  leave  the  matter  to  your 
reflection  and  cool  judgment." 50  He  even  frequently 
gives  a  sharp  order  which  approaches  sternness :  "  You 
must  use  your  discretion  and  judgment  in  these  matters, 


LEE  AND  JACKSON  141 

and  be  careful  to  husband  the  strength  of  your  command 
as  much  as  possible."51  And  again:  " Do  not  let  your 
troops  run  down,  if  it  can  possibly  be  avoided  by  atten 
tion  to  their  wants,  comforts,  etc.,  by  their  respective 
commanders.  This  will  require  your  personal  atten 
tion."52 

Jackson  seems  usually  to  have  accepted  all  this  with 
unquestioning  submission.  It  is  true  that  Longstreet  is 
said  once  to  have  accused  him  of  disrespect  because  he 
groaned  audibly  at  one  of  Lee's  decisions.53  But  Long- 
street  was  a  little  too  watchful  for  those  groans.  Also, 
on  one  occasion,  when  Lee  proposed  some  redistribution 
of  artillery,  Jackson  protested,  rather  for  his  soldiers  than 
for  himself:  " General  D.  H.  Hill's  artillery  wants  ex 
isted  at  the  time  he  was  assigned  to  my  command,  and 
it  is  hoped  that  artillery  which  belonged  to  the  Army  of 
the  Valley  will  not  be  taken  to  supply  his  wants."  54  But, 
for  the  most  part,  the  lieutenant  writes  in  the  respectful, 
affectionate,  and  trustful  tone  which  he  adopted  at  the 
very  beginning  of  the  war  and  maintained  until  the  end : 
"  I  would  be  more  than  grateful,  could  you  spare  the 
time  for  a  short  visit  here  to  give  me  the  benefit  of  your 
wisdom  and  experience  in  laying  out  the  works,  espe 
cially  those  on  the  heights."  55 

Jackson's  complete  submission  to  Lee  is  the  more 
striking'  because,  though  a  theoretical  believer  in  sub 
ordination,  he  was  not  by  nature  peculiarly  adapted  to 
working  under  the  orders  of  others.  Some,  who  knew 


i42  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

him  well,  have  gone  so  far  as  to  say  that  "  his  genius 
never  shone  under  command  of  another."  56  This  is  ab 
surd  enough  considering  his  later  battles ;  but  it  seems 
to  me  that  some  such  explanation  may  be  sought  for 
his  comparative  inefficiency  on  the  Peninsula,  as  to  which 
almost  all  critics  are  agreed.  It  was  physical  exhaustion, 
says  Dabney.  It  was  poor  staff  service,  says  Henderson. 
Is  it  not  possible  that,  accustomed  hitherto  to  working 
with  an  absolutely  free  hand,  his  very  desire  to  be  only 
an  executive  and  carry  out  Lee's  orders  may,  for  the 
time,  to  some  extent,  have  paralyzed  his  own  initiative  ? 
However  that  may  be,  there  is  no  doubt  that  Jackson 
did  not  take  kindly  to  dictation  from  Richmond.  It  is  said 
that  on  one  occasion  he  wrote  to  the  War  Office  request 
ing  that  he  might  have  fewer  orders  and  more  men.57  It 
is  certain  that  he  complained  bitterly  to  Lee  of  the  custom 
of  sending  him  officers  without  previous  consultation.  "  I 
have  had  much  trouble  resulting  from  incompetent  officers 
being  assigned  to  duty  with  me,  regardless  of  my  wishes. 
Those  who  have  assigned  them  have  never  taken  the  re 
sponsibility  of  incurring  the  odium  which  results  from  such 
incompetence."  58  And  very  early  in  his  career  he  had  a 
sharp  clash  with  Secretary  Benjamin,  who  had  attempted 
to  interfere  in  the  detail  of  military  arrangements.  Jackson 
sent  in  his  resignation  at  once,  explaining  that  his  services 
could  be  of  no  use,  if  he  was  to  be  hampered  by  remote 
and  ill-informed  control.  The  fact  of  the  resignation, 
which  was  withdrawn  by  the  kindly  offices  of  Johnston 


LEE  AND  JACKSON  143 

and  Governor  Letcher,  is  of  less  interest  than  the  spirit 
in  which  Jackson  offered  it.  When  it  was  represented  to 
him  that  the  Government  had  proceeded  without  under 
standing  the  circumstances,  he  replied  :  "  Certainly  they 
have;  but  they  must  be  taught  not  to  act  so  hastily 
without  a  full  knowledge  of  the  facts.  I  can  teach  them 
this  lesson  now  by  my  resignation  and  the  country  will 
be  no  loser  by  it." 59  Was  I  wrong  in  saying  that  this 
man  would  have  ridden  over  anything  and  anybody,  if 
he  had  thought  it  his  duty?  Such  summary  methods/ 
may  have  been  wise,  they  may  have  been  effective :  they 
were  certainly  very  unlike  Lee's. 

Now  let  us  turn  from  Jackson's  superiors  to  his  infe 
riors.  The  common  soldier  loved  him.  It  was  not  for  any 
jolly  comradeship,  not  for  any  fascinating  magnetism  of 
personal  charm  or  heroic  eloquence.  He  was  a  hard  task 
master,  exacting  and  severe.  "Whatever  of  personal 
magnetism  existed  in  Stonewall  Jackson,"  says  his  par 
tial  biographer,  "  found  no  utterance  in  words.  Whilst 
his  soldiers  struggled  painfully  towards  Romney  in  the 
teeth  of  the  winter  storm,  his  lips  were  never  opened 
save  for  sharp  rebuke  or  peremptory  order."  60  But  the 
men  had  confidence  in  him.  He  had  got  them  out  of 
many  a  difficulty  and  something  in  his  manner  told  them 
that  he  would  get  them  out  of  any  difficulty.  The  sight 
of  his  old  uniform  and  scrawny  sorrel  horse  stirred  all 
their  nerves  and  made  them  march  and  fight  as  they 
could  not  have  done  for  another  man.  And  then  they 


144  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

knew  that  though  he  was  harsh,  he  was  just.  He  ex 
pected  great  things  of  them,  but  he  would  do  great 
things  for  them.  He  would  slaughter  them  mercilessly 
to  win  a  victory ;  but  when  it  was  won  he  would  give 
them  the  glory,  under  God,  and  would  cherish  the  sur 
vivors  with  a  parent's  tenderness.  "We  do  not  regard 
him  as  a  severe  disciplinarian,"  writes  one  of  them,  "  as 
a  politician,  as  a  man  seeking  popularity,  —  but  as  a 
Christian,  a  brave  man  who  appreciates  the  condition  of 
a  common  soldier,  as  a  fatherly  protector,  as  one  who 
endures  all  hardship  in  common  with  his  followers,  who 
never  commands  others  to  face  danger  without  putting 
himself  in  the  van." 61 

But  with  his  officers  it  was  somewhat  different.  They 
did  indeed  trust  his  leadership  and  admire  his  genius. 
How  could  they  help  it  ?  It  is  said  that  all  the  staff  offi 
cers  of  the  army  at  large  liked  him.62  And  Mrs.  Jackson 
declares  that  his  own  staff  were  devoted  to  him,  as  they 
probably  were.  Yet  even  she  admits  that  they  resented 
his  rigid  punctuality  and  early  hours.  And  there  is  no 
doubt  that  in  these  particulars  and  in  many  others  he 
asked  all  that  men  were  capable  of  and  sometimes  a 
little  more.  "  General  Jackson,"  says^one  of  his  st?ff,  "  de 
manded  of  his  subordinates  implicit  obedience.  He  gave 
orders  in  his  own  peculiar,  terse,  rapid  fashion,  and  he 
did  not  permit  them  to  be  questioned."63  General  Ewell 
is  said  to  have  remarked  that  he  never  "  saw  one  of 
Jackson's  couriers  approach  him  without  expecting  an 


LEE  AND  JACKSON  145 

order  to  assault  the  North  Pole."  64  On  one  occasion  he 
had  given  his  staff  directions  to  breakfast  at  dawn  and 
to  be  in  the  saddle  immediately  after.  The  general  ap 
peared  at  daybreak  —  and  one  officer.  Jackson  lost  his 
temper.  "  Major,  how  is  it  that  this  staff  never  will  be 
punctual?"  When  the  major  attempted  some  apology 
for  the  others,  his  chief  turned  to  the  servant  in  a  rage. 
"  Put  back  that  food  into  the  chest,  have  that  chest  in 
the  wagon,  and  that  wagon  moving  in  two  minutes."65 

Also  Jackson  had  a  habit  of  keeping  everything  to 
himself.  This  may  have  been  a  great  military  advantage. 
It  was  a  source  of  constant  amusement  to  the  soldiers. 
Jackson  met  one  of  them  one  day  in  some  place  where 
he  should  not  have  been.  "  What  are  you  doing  here  ?  " 
"  I  don't  know."  "  Where  do  you  come  from  ?  "  "I  don't 
know."  When  asked  the  meaning  of  this  extraordinary 
ignorance,  the  man  explained,  "  Orders  were  that  we 
should  n't  know  anything  till  after  the  next  fight."  Jack 
son  laughed  and  passed  on.66 

But  the  officers  did  not  like  it.  Jackson  made  his  own 
plans  and  took  care  of  his  own  responsibilities.  Even  his 
most  trusted  subordinates  were  often  told  to  go  to  this 
or  that  place  with  no  explanation  of  the  object  of  their 
going.  They  went,  but  they  sometimes  went  without 
enthusiasm.  And  Jackson  was  no  man  for  councils  of 
war.  Others'  judgment  might  be  as  good  as  his,  but  only 
one  judgment  must  settle  matters,  and  his  was  for  the 
time  to  be  that  one. 


I46  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

Hence  his  officers  fretted  and  he  quarreled  with  some 
of  the  best  of  them.  And  when  things  did  not  go  right, 
with  him  it  was  the  guardhouse  instantly.  All  five  regi 
mental  commanders  of  the  Stonewall  Brigade  were  once 
under  arrest  at  the  same  time.67  The  gallant  Ashby,  just 
before  his  last  charge  and  death,  had  a  sharp  bit  of  fric 
tion  with  his  superior.  When  Gregg  lay  dying,  he  sent 
to  the  general  to  apologize  for  a  letter  recently  written 
"  in  which  he  used  words  that  he  is  now  sorry  for  ... 
He  hopes  you  will  forgive  him."  68  Jackson  forgave  him 
heartily ;  but  he  could  not  have  deathbed  reconciliations 
with  all  of  them. 

In  some  of  these  cases  Lee  was  obliged  to  interfere, 
notably  in  that  of  A.  P.  Hill.  Hill  was  a  splendid  soldier. 
Lee  loved  him.  By  a  strange  coincidence  his  name  was 
on  the  dying  lips  of  Lee  and  Jackson  both.  But  he  was 
fiery  and  impetuous  and  did  not  hesitate  to  criticize 
even  the  commander-in-chief  with  hearty  freedom.  He 
chafed  sorely  under  Jackson's  arbitrary  methods.  Lee, 
in  recommending  him,  foresaw  this,  and  tried  to  insinu 
ate  a  little  caution.  "A.  P.  Hill  you  will,  I  think,  find 
a  good  officer,  with  whom  you  can  consult,  and,  by  ad 
vising  with  your  division  commanders  as  to  your  move 
ments,  much  trouble  will  be  saved  you  in  arranging 
details,  and  they  can  aid  more  intelligently."  69 

It  was  quite  useless.  The  two  fiery  tempers  clashed  im 
mediately.  Jackson  put  his  subordinate  under  arrest  more 
than  once.  In  the  " Official  Records"  we  may  read  the 


LEE  AND  JACKSON  147 

painful  but  very  curious  correspondence  in  which  the  two 
laid  their  grievances  before  Lee  and  Lee  with  patient  tact 
tried  to  do  justice  to  both.  "  If,"  says  Hill,  "  the  charges 
preferred  against  me  by  General  Jackson  are  true,  I  do 
not  deserve  to  command  a  division  in  this  army ;  if  they 
are  untrue,  then  General  Jackson  deserves  a  rebuke  as 
notorious  as  the  arrest."  70  It  is  said  that  Lee  at  last 
brought  the  two  together,  and,  "  after  hearing  their 
several  statements,  walking  gravely  to  and  fro,  said, 
*  He  who  has  been  the  most  aggrieved  can  be  the  most 
magnanimous  and  make  the  first  overture  of  peace/ 
This  wise  verdict  forever  settled  their  differences/'71 
Forever  is  a  long  word,  but  surely  no  judgment  of 
Solomon  or  Sancho  Panza  could  be  neater. 

Lee's  relations  with  Jackson  as  to  strategy  and  tactics 
are  no  less  interesting  than  the  disciplinary.  Some  of 
Jackson's  admirers  seem  inclined  to  credit  him  with  Lee's 
best  generalship,  especially  with  the  brilliant  and  suc 
cessful  movements  which  resulted  in  the  victories  of  the 
Second  Bull  Run  and  of  Chancellorsville.  Just  how  far 
each  general  was  responsible  for  those  movements  can 
never  be  exactly  determined.  The  conception  of  flank 
attacks  would  appear  to  be  an  elementary  device  to  any 
military  mind.  Lee  certainly  was  sufficiently  prone  to 
them  and  urged  them  upon  Jackson  at  an  early  stage,  as 
is  shown  by  a  passage  quoted  above.72  It  is  in  nice  and 
perfect  execution  that  the  difficulty  lies,  and  in  the  deli 
cate  adjustment  of  that  execution  to  the  handling  of  the 


148  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

army  as  a  whole ;  and  in  this  Lee  and  Jackson  probably 
formed  as  wonderful  a  pair  of  military  geniuses  as  ever 
existed. 

As  to  Lee's  initiative,  it  can  be  easily  shown  that  even 
in  the  first  Valley  campaign  he  had,  to  say  the  least,  a 
most  sympathetic  and  prophetic  comprehension  of  Jack 
son's  action.  If  Jackson  may  possibly  have  conceived  the 
plan  of  the  Second  Bull  Run  campaign,  it  was  Lee  who 
designed  the  tactics  of  Gaines's  Mill,  that  Jackson  failed 
to  carry  out.  At  a  later  date,  just  before  Fredericksburg, 
when  Jackson  was  again  operating  in  the  Valley,  Hen 
derson,  in  the  absence  of  authentic  data,  assumes  that 
the  lieutenant  was  anxious  to  realize  some  flanking  con 
ception  of  his  own  and  that  Lee  assented  to  it.  This  may 
be  so,  but  a  few  weeks  later  still,  when  the  battle  was  im 
minent,  Lee  expresses  himself  to  a  very  different  effect. 
"  In  previous  letters  I  suggested  the  advantages  that 
might  be  derived  by  your  taking  position  at  Warrenton 
or  Culpeper,  with  a  view  to  threaten  the  rear  of  the 
enemy  at  Fredericksburg.  ...  As  my  previous  sugges 
tions  to  you  were  left  to  be  executed  or  not  at  your  dis 
cretion,  you  are  still  at  liberty  to  follow  or  reject  them." 73 

The  case  that  has  aroused  most  controversy,  one  of 
those  delightful  problems  that  can  be  always  discussed 
and  never  settled,  is  that  of  Chancellorsville.  The  facts, 
so  far  as  they  can  be  gathered  from  conflicting  accounts, 
seem  to  be  as  follows.  On  the  night  of  May  i,  Hooker 
had  withdrawn  to  Chancellorsville.  Lee  and  Jackson  met 


LEE  AND  JACKSON  149 

and  talked  over  the  state  of  things.  Examination  had 
shown  that  to  attack  Hooker's  left  and  centre  was  out  of 
the  question.  On  the  other  hand,  reports  received  from 
the  cavalry  made  it  appear  that  the  right  might  be  as 
sailed  with  advantage.  Lee  decided  on  this  and  ordered 
Jackson  to  make  the  movement.  Jackson  then  secured 
further  information,  elaborated  his  plans  accordingly, 
and  acted  on  them  with  Lee's  approval. 

Evidently  this  statement  leaves  many  loopholes,  but  it 
is  impossible  to  be  more  definite,  or  to  say  just  where 
Lee's  conception  ended  and  Jackson's  began.  If  we  turn 
for  information  to  the  two  principal  actors,  we  shall  not 
progress  much.  "  I  congratulate  you  upon  the  victory 
which  is  due  to  your  skill  and  energy,"  74  says  Lee ;  but  this 
passing  of  compliments  means  no  more  than  Jackson's 
general  acknowledgment :  "  All  the  credit  of  my  successes 
belongs  to  General  Lee ;  they  were  his  plans  and  I  only 
executed  his  orders."  75  Jackson's  special  comment  is  not 
more  helpful :  "  Our  movement  was  a  great  success  ;  I 
think  the  most  successful  military  movement  of  my  life. 
But  I  expect  to  receive  more  credit  for  it  than  I  deserve. 
Most  men  will  think  that  I  planned  it  all  from  the  first, 
but  it  was  not  so."  76  —  "  Ah,"  we  interrupt,  "this  is  mag 
nanimous.  He  is  going  to  give  the  credit  to  Lee."  —  Not 
at  all ;  he  is  only  going  to  give  it  to  God.  Nor  does  Lee's 
letter  to  Mrs.  Jackson  make  matters  much  clearer.  "  I 
decided  against  it  [front  attack]  and  stated  to  General 
Jackson  we  must  move  on  our  left  as  soon  as  practicable ; 


150  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

and  the  necessary  movement  of  troops  began  immedi 
ately.  In  consequence  of  a  report  received  about  this 
time  from  General  Fitzhugh  Lee,  .  .  .  General  Jackson, 
after  some  inquiry,  undertook  to  throw  his  command 
entirely  in  Hooker's  rear."  77 

What  interests  me  in  the  controversy  is  not  the  de 
bated  point,  which  cannot  seriously  affect  the  greatness 
of  either  party  concerned,  but  the  characteristic  reserve 
of  Lee,  as  shown  in  the  last  sentence  above  quoted,  and 
far  more  in  the  letter  to  Dr.  Bledsoe,  written,  says  Jones, 
in  answer  to  a  "  direct  question  whether  the  flank  move 
ment  at  Chancellorsville  originated  with  Jackson  or  with 
himself."  Lee's  reply  is  so  curious  that  I  quote  the  im 
portant  part  of  it  entire. 

I  have  learned  from  others  that  the  various  authors  of  the 
life  of  Jackson  award  to  him  the  credit  of  the  success  gained 
by  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia  where  he  was  present,  and 
describe  the  movements  of  his  corps  or  command  as  inde 
pendent  of  the  general  plan  of  operations  and  undertaken 
at  his  own  suggestion  and  upon  his  own  responsibility. 

I  have  the  greatest  reluctance  to  say  anything  that  might 
be  considered  as  detracting  from  his  well-deserved  fame,  for 
I  believe  no  one  was  more  convinced  of  his  worth  or  appre 
ciated  him  more  highly  than  myself;  yet  your  knowledge  of 
military  affairs,  if  you  have  none  of  the  events  themselves, 
will  teach  you  that  this  could  not  have  been  so.  Every  move 
ment  of  an  army  must  be  well  considered  and  properly 
ordered,  and  every  one  who  knew  General  Jackson  must  know 
that  he  was  too  good  a  soldier  to  violate  this  fundamental 


LEE  AND  JACKSON  151 

principle.  In  the  operations  around  Chancellorsville,  I  over 
took  General  Jackson,  who  had  been  placed  in  command  of 
the  advance,  as  the  skirmishers  of  the  approaching  armies 
met,  advanced  with  the  troops  to  the  Federal  line  of  defenses, 
and  was  on  the  field  until  their  whole  army  recrossed  the 
Rappahannock. 

There  is  no  question  as  to  who  was  responsible  for  the  oper 
ations  of  the  Confederates,  or  to  whom  any  failure  would 
have  been  charged.78 

The  more  I  read  this  letter,  the  less  I  understand  it. 
It  does  not  answer  Bledsoe's  question  at  all,  makes  no 
attempt  to  answer  it.  Instead,  it  tells  us  that  Jackson  did 
not  rob  Lee  of  the  command,  or  the  responsibility,  or  the 
glory.  Who  ever  supposed  he  did  ?  And  why  did  Lee 
write  so?  Did  he  wish  to  leave  Jackson  the  credit  of  in 
itiative  in  the  matter?  It  sounds  as  if  he  wished  the  pre 
cise  contrary,  which  is  quite  impossible.  Or  did  he  miss 
the  whole  point,  which  seems  equally  impossible  ?  This 
letter,  like  many  others,  goes  far  to  reconcile  me  to  the 
loss  of  the  memoirs  that  Lee  did  not  write.  I  feel  sure 
that  with  the  best  intentions  in  the  world  he  would  have 
left  untold  a  great  deal  that  we  desire  to  know. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that  in  a  comparison  of 
Lee  and  Jackson  the  question  of  just  how  far  either  one 
originated  the  military  designs  which  covered  both  with 
glory  is  not  really  very  essential.  I  hope  that  I  have 
already  indicated  the  difference  between  them.  Perhaps 
in  their  religion  it  is  as  significant  as  in  anything.  To 
both  religion  was  the  main  issue  of  life;  but  in  Lee 


I52  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

religion  never  tyrannized ;  in  Jackson  I  think  it  did.  Lee 
said  that  "  duty  was  the  sublimest  word  in  the  language." 
Nevertheless,  if  he  had  heard  Mrs.  Jackson's  remark  that 
her  husband  "  ate,  as  he  did  everything  else,  from  a  sense 
of  duty,"  79  I  think  he  would  have  smiled  and  observed 
that  it  might  be  well  occasionally  to  eat  for  pure  pleas 
ure.  It  would  be  most  unjust  to  say  that  Jackson's  was 
a  religion  of  hell ;  but  it  would  be  nobly  true  to  say  that 
Lee's  was  a  religion  of  heaven.  It  would  be  fairer  to  both 
to  speak  of  Jackson's  as  a  devouring  fire,  of  Lee's  as  a 
pure  and  vivifying  light.  Indeed,  especially  in  compari 
son  with  Jackson,  this  idea  of  light  satisfies  me  better  for 
Lee  than  anything  else.  His  soul  was  tranquil  and  serene 
and  broadly  luminous,  with  no  dark  corner  in  it  for  vio 
lence  or  hate. 

And,  although  I  speak  with  humility  in  such  a  matter, 
may  we  not  say  that  the  military  difference  between  the 
two  was  something  the  same?  It  is  possible  that  Jackson 
could  strike  harder,  possible  even  that  he  could  see  as 
deeply  and  as  justly  as  his  great  commander.  I  think 
that  Lee  had  the  advantage  in  breadth,  in  just  that  one 
quality  of  sweet  luminousness.  He  could  draw  all  men 
unto  him.  What  a  splendid  mastery  it  must  have  been 
that  kept,  on  the  one  hand,  the  perfect  friendship  and  con 
fidence  of  the  high-strung,  sensitive,  and  jealous  Davis, 
and  on  the  other,  the  unquestioning  loyalty,  affection, 
and  admiration  of  a  soul  so  swift  and  haughty  and 
violent  as  that  of  Jackson  I 


VII 

LEE  IN  BATTLE 

ANY  study  of  Lee  would  be  incomplete  without  portrayal 
of  him  in  the  greatest  crises  of  all.  For  my  purpose  it 
would  have  been  convenient  if  some  keen-sighted  jour 
nalist  could  have  accompanied  the  general  in  his  various 
battles  and  left  a  stenographic  report  of  where  he  went 
and  what  he  said  and  what  he  did.  Unfortunately  the 
many  memoir  writers  who  were  in  a  good  position  to 
observe  were  at  the  time,  for  the  most  part,  excellently 
occupied  with  their  own  affairs.  Therefore  I  ask  in  vain 
as  to  Lee's  whereabouts  and  action  at  certain  very 
critical  moments. 

We  like  to  imagine  the  master  mind  in  a  great  con 
flict  controlling  everything,  down  to  the  minutest  detail. 
But  with  vast  modern  armies  this  is  far  from  being  the 
case,  even  with  the  elaborate  electrical  facilities  of  to 
day  ;  and  in  Lee's  time  those  facilities  were  much  less 
complete.  Lee  himself  indicated  this  humorously  when 
he  was  remonstrated  with  for  running  unnecessary  risk 
and  answered  :  "  I  wish  some  one  would  tell  me  my 
proper  place  in  battle.  I  am  always  told  I  should  not  be 
where  I  am."  1  And  he  expressed  it  with  entire  serious 
ness  when  he  said,  in  words  in  part  already  quoted : 
"  My  interference  in  battle  would  do  more  harm  than 


154  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

good.  I  have,  then,  to  rely  on  my  brigade  and  division 
commanders.  I  think  and  work  with  all  my  power  to 
bring  the  troops  to  the  right  place  at  the  right  time ; 
then  I  have  done  my  duty.  As  soon  as  I  order  them  for 
ward  into  battle,  I  leave  my  army  in  the  hands  of  God."2 
Some  critics  hold  that  Lee  was  inclined  to  carry  the 
principle  too  far.  What  impresses  me  in  this,  as  in  other 
things,  is  the  nice  balance  of  his  gifts.  Persons  by  nature 
disposed  to  direct  others  almost  always  seek  to  direct 
in  everything.  How  wise  and  constant  Lee's  guidance 
was,  where  he  thought  it  needed,  is  shown  by  his  son's 
remark :  "  We  were  always  fully  instructed  as  to  the  best 
way  to  get  to  Lexington,  and,  indeed,  all  the  roads  of 
life  were  carefully  marked  out  for  us  by  him."  3  Yet  the 
moment  he  reached  the  limit  of  what  he  thought  was  his 
province,  he  drew  back  and  left  decision  to  others  whom 
he  felt  to  be,  by  nature  or  training,  better  qualified. 

The  amount  of  Lee's  direction  and  influence  seems  to 
have  varied  greatly  in  different  battles.  At  Fredericks- 
burg  he  adopted  a  central  position  whence  he  could 
survey  the  whole  field.  Colonel  Long's  remarks  in  de 
scribing  this  must  have  given  Longstreet  exquisite  pleas 
ure.  "  In  the  battle  Longstreet  had  his  headquarters  at 
the  same  place,  so  that  Lee  was  able  to  keep  his  hand 
on  the  rein  of  his  'old  war-horse*  and  to  direct  him 
where  to  apply  his  strength."  4  At  Antietam  critics  are 
agreed  that  Lee's  management  of  things  was  perfect. 
"  He  utilized  every  available  soldier :  throughout  the  day 


LEE  IN   BATTLE  155 

he  controlled  the  Confederate  operations  over  the  whole 
field."  5  On  the  other  hand,  in  the  Peninsular  battles, 
owing  perhaps,  to  imperfect  organization  and  staff  ar 
rangements,  his  hold  on  the  machine  was  much  less 
complete ;  and  at  Gettysburg  the  vast  extension'  of  his 
lines  made  immediate  personal  direction  almost  impos 
sible,  with  results  that  were  disastrous. 

It  is  at  Gettysburg  that  we  get  one  of  the  most  vivid 
of  the  few  pictures  left  us  of  Lee  in  the  very  midst  of 
the  crash  and  tumult  of  conflict.  This  is  from  the  excel 
lent  pen  of  General  Alexander,  who  says  that  the  com- 
mander-in-chief  rode  up  entirely  alone,  just  after  Pickett's 
charge,  "  and  remained  with  me  for  a  long  time.  He 
then  probably  first  appreciated  the  extent  of  the  disaster, 
as  the  disorganized  stragglers  made  their  way  back  past 
us.  ...  It  was  certainly  a.  momentous  thing  to  him  to 
see  that  superb  attack  end  in  such  a  bloody  repulse.  But, 
whatever  his  emotions,  there  was  no  trace  of  them  in  his 
calm  and  self-possessed  bearing.  I  thought  at  that  time 
his  coming  there  very  imprudent  and  the  absence  of  all 
his  staff  officers  and  couriers  strange.  It  could  only  have 
happened  by  his  express  intention.  I  have  since  thought 
it  possible  that  he  came,  thinking  the  enemy  might  follow 
in  pursuit  of  Pickett,  personally  to  rally  stragglers  about 
our  guns  and  make  a  desperate  defense.  He  had  the  in 
stincts  of  a  soldier  within  him  as  strongly  as  any  man. 
.  .  .  No  soldier  could  have  looked  on  at  Pickett's  charge 
and  not  burned  to  be  in  it.  To  have  a  personal  part  in 


156  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

a  close  and  desperate  fight  at  that  moment,  would,  I 
believe,  have  been  at  heart  a  great  pleasure  to  General 
Lee  and  possibly  he  was  looking  for  one." 6 

And  I  ask  myself  how  much  of  that  born  soldier's  lust 
for  battle,  keen  enjoyment  of  danger  and  struggle  and 
combat,  Lee  really  had.  Certainly  there  is  little  record  of 
his  speaking  of  any  such  feeling.  At  various  times  he 
expressed  a  deep  sense  of  all  the  horrors  of  war.  "  You 
have  no  idea  of  what  a  horrible  sight  a  battlefield  is."  7 
And  again:  "  What  a  cruel  thing  is  war  ;  to  separate  and 
destroy  families  and  friends,  and  mar  the  purest  joys  and 
happiness  God  has  granted  us  in  this  world ;  to  fill  our 
hearts  with  hatred  instead  of  love  for  our  neighbors,  and 
to  devastate  the  fair  face  of  this  beautiful  world."  8  Yet 
we  must  remember  that  at  the  time  of  his  great  military 
glory  Lee  was  an  old  man  and  the  fury  of  hot  blood  was 
tempered  in  him.  I  imagine  that  he  found  an  intense  de 
light  in  Mexico,  "  when  the  musket  balls  and  grape  were 
whistling  over  my  head  in  a  perfect  shower,"  9  and  when 
he  was  threading  his  way  alone  in  night  and  solitude 
through  the  murky  pitfalls  of  the  Pedregal.  Even  at  a 
later  time  one  vivid  sentence,  spoken  in  the  midst  of  the 
slaughter  of  Fredericksburg,  lights  the  man's  true  in 
stincts,  like  a  flash :  "  It  is  well  that  war  is  so  terrible, 
or  else  we  might  grow  too  fond  of  it."  10 

As  to  Lee's  personal  courage,  of  course  the  only  point 
to  be  discussed  is  the  peculiar  quality  of  it.  Judging  from 
his  character  generally  and  from  all  that  is  recorded  of 


LEE  IN   BATTLE  157 

him,  I  should  not  take  it  to  be  a  temperamental  indiffer 
ence  to  danger,  a  stolid  disregard  of  its  very  existence, 
such  as  we  find  perhaps  in  Grant  or  Wellington.  Though 
far  from  being  a  highly  nervous  organization,  Lee  was 
sensitive,  imaginative ;  and  he  probably  had  to  accus 
tom  himself  to  being  under  fire  and  was  always  per 
fectly  aware  of  any  elements  of  peril  there  might  be 
about  him.  By  the  time  the  war  broke  out,  however,  he 
was  doubtless  as  indifferent  to  bullets  as  to  raindrops, 
and  went  where  duty  took  him  without  a  moment's 
thought  of  the  result. 

Testimony  to  his  entire  coolness  in  battle  is  abundant 
enough.  I  do  not  know  of  any  more  striking  statement 
than  Scheibert's.  "  During  the  battle  of  Chancellorsville, 
at  the  very  crisis  of  the  struggle,  I  happened  to  be  stand 
ing  beside  the  general  under  fire  and  in  full  view  of 
a  very  interesting  episode  of  the  fight.  I  was  astonished 
when,  in  spite  of  the  excitement  natural  to  such  a  scene, 
he  ...  began  to  converse  with  me  about  popular  educa 
tion."  n  A  vivid  concrete  instance  of  self-possession  in 
the  midst  of  turmoil  is  narrated  by  a  Union  soldier :  "  A 
prisoner  walked  up  to  him  and  told  him  a  rebel  had 
stolen  his  hat.  In  the  midst  of  his  orders  he  stopped  and 
told  the  rebel  to  give  back  the  hat  and  saw  that  he  done 
it,  too."  12 

I  am  not  aware  that  Lee  was  wounded  at  any  time 
during  the  war,  or  indeed  in  his  life,  except  slightly  at 
Chapultepec.  His  hands  were  severely  injured  just  before 


158  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

Antietam,  but  this  was  by  the  falling  of  his  horse.  He 
was,  however,  constantly  under  fire.  At  Antietam  A.  P. 
Hill,  who  was  close  to  the  general,  had  his  horse's  fore 
legs  shot  off.  On  another  occasion,  when  Lee  was  sitting 
with  Stuart  and  his  staff,  "a  shell  fell  plump  in  their 
midst,  burying  in  the  earth  with  itself  one  of  General 
Lee's  gauntlets,  which  lay  on  the  ground  only  a  few  feet 
from  the  general  himself."  13  In  1864  Lee  was  inspecting 
the  lines  below  Richmond  and  the  number  of  soldiers 
gathered  about  him  drew  the  enemy's  fire  rather  heavily. 
The  general  ordered  the  men  back  out  of  range  and 
himself  followed  at  his  leisure ;  but  it  was  observed  that 
he  stopped  to  pick  up  something.  A  fledgling  sparrow 
had  fallen  out  of  its  nest  and  he  took  it  from  the  ground 
and  tenderly  replaced  it,  with  the  bullets  whistling 
around  him.14 

As  in  this  case,  Lee  was  always  extremely  solicitous 
about  the  unnecessary  exposure  of  his  men.  Once,  when 
he  was  watching  the  effect  of  the  fire  from  an  advanced 
battery,  a  staff  officer  rode  up  to  him  by  the  approach 
which  was  least  protected.  The  general  reprimanded 
him  for  his  carelessness,  and  when  the  young  man 
urged  that  he  could  not  seek  cover  himself  while  his 
chief  was  in  the  open,  Lee  answered  sharply  :  "  It  is  my 
duty  to  be  here.  Go  back  the  way  I  told  you,  sir." 15  At 
another  time  Lee  had  placed  himself  in  a  very  exposed 
position,  to  the  horror  of  all  his  officers.  They  could  not 
prevail  upon  him  to  come  down,  so  finally  General 


LEE  IN   BATTLE  159 

Grade  stepped  forward  and  interposed  himself  between 
his  commander  and  the  enemy.  "Why,  Grade,"  pro 
tested  Lee,  " you  will  certainly  be  killed."  "It  is  better, 
General,  that  I  should  be  killed  than  you.  When  you 
get  down,  I  will."  Lee  smiled  and  got  down.16 

No  protest  and  no  entreaty,  however,  could  make  the 
commander-in-chief  protect  himself  as  much  as  his  offi 
cers  wished.  Perhaps  the  most  amusing  instance  of  this 
is  an  experience  of  Lee  and  Davis  together  in  the  early 
days  on  the  Peninsula.  They  were  riding  side  by  side 
under  fire  when  Davis  realized  the  danger  and  urged  his 
companion  to  withdraw.  Lee  returned  the  compliment. 
Then  they  both  forgot  all  about  it,  till  A.  P.  Hill  rode  up 
and  begged  them  to  go  back.  They  withdrew  a  few  feet, 
without  mending  matters  much,  till  finally  Hill  reap 
peared  and  insisted  that  they  should  betake  themselves 
to  some  position  out  of  range.17 

When  matters  became  really  critical,  Lee  completely 
threw  aside  all  caution.  In  the  terrific  battles  of  the 
Wilderness,  where  at  times  it  seemed  as  if  Grant  would 
succeed  in  effecting  a  permanent  break,  the  Confederate 
general  repeatedly  (on  three  separate  occasions,  as  it 
appears)  rushed  to  the  front  to  rally  his  men  and  charge, 
like  Ney  or  Murat,  at  the  head  of  them.  "  Go  back,  Gen 
eral  Lee,  go  back,"  shouted  the  soldiers.  But  he  would 
not  go  back  till  they  had  promised  to  do  as  much  for 
him  as  they  could  have  done  with  him.  And  they  did  as 
much.  No  men  could  have  done  more.18 


160  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

It  was  this  occasional  fury  of  combativeness  which 
made  Long-street  assert  that  the  general  was  sometimes 
unbalanced,  not  by  any  personal  exposure  or  excitement, 
but  by  critical  situations  affecting  the  army  as  a  whole. 
Longstreet,  defending  his  own  conduct  at  Gettysburg, 
urges  that  Lee  was  particularly  overwrought  at  the  time 
of  that  battle.  In  what  is,  to  say  the  least,  peculiar  phrase 
ology,  the  lieutenant  writes  of  his  commander :  "  That  he 
was  excited  and  off  his  balance  was  evident  on  the  after 
noon  of  the  first,  and  that  he  labored  under  that  oppres 
sion  till  blood  enough  was  shed  to  appease  him."  19  The 
suggestion  that  Lee  required  blood  to  appease  him  is 
grotesque  and  his  loyal  admirers  ridicule  the  idea  that 
at  Gettysburg  he  was  unbalanced.  But  there  is  evidence 
beside  Longstreet's  that,  once  in  a  fight,  he  hated  to 
give  it  up  and  perhaps  occasionally  allowed  his  ardor  to 
overcome  his  discretion.  The  Prussian  officer  Scheibert 
remarks  that,  while  at  Chancellorsville  Lee  was  admir 
ably  calm,  at  Gettysburg  he  was  restless  and  uneasy.20 
General  Anderson  bears  witness  that  at  Gettysburg  his 
chief  was  "  very  much  disturbed  and  depressed." 21  Curi 
ous  independent  testimony  to  a  relation  between  Lee 
and  Longstreet  just  before  the  final  surrender,  precisely 
similar  to  what  Longstreet  depicts  at  Gettysburg,  is 
furnished  by  Captain  Ranson  in  "  Harper's  Magazine," 
though  I  confess  I  cannot  quite  adjust  it  to  Longstreet's 
own  narrative.  The  captain  involuntarily  overheard  a 
conversation  between  the  two  generals.  "I  must  have 


LEE  IN   BATTLE  161 

slept  for  an  hour  at  least  when  again  I  was  awakened  by 
the  loud,  almost  fierce  tones  of  General  Lee,  saying, 
'I  tell  you,  General  Longstreet,  I  will  strike  that  man 
[Grant]  a  blow  in  the  morning.'  General  Longstreet 
again  recounted  the  difficulties,  ending  as  before,  '  Gen 
eral,  you  know  you  have  only  to  give  the  order  and  the 
attack  will  be  made,  but  I  must  tell  you  that  I  think  it  a 
useless  waste  of  brave  lives.'  "  22  Also  that  excellent  critic 
Colonel  T.  L.  Livermore  proposes  to  solve  the  difficult 
question,  why  Lee  did  not  earlier  abandon  Petersburg, 
by  accepting  Davis's  suggestion  that  the  general's  too 
combative  temperament  made  him  reluctant  to  retire 
from  an  enemy.23 

The  most  heroic  picture  that  is  left  us  of  Lee,  high- 
wrought  by  the  excitement  of  battle  and  determined  to 
fight  to  the  end,  is  the  account,  received  by  Henderson 
from  a  reliable  eye-witness,  of  the  chiefs  decision  to  re 
main  north  of  the  Potomac  after  Antietam.  General  after 
general  rode  up  to  the  commander's  headquarters,  all 
with  the  same  tale  of  discouragement  and  counsel  of  re 
treat.  Hood  was  quite  unmanned.  "  My  God  ! "  cried  Lee 
to  him,  with  unwonted  vehemence,  "  where  is  the  splen 
did  division  you  had  this  morning?"  "They  are  lying 
on  the  field  where  you  sent  them,"  answered  Hood. 
Even  Jackson  did  not  venture  to  suggest  anything  but 
withdrawal.  There  were  a  few  moments  of  oppressive 
silence.  Then  Lee  rose  in  his  stirrups  and  said :  "  Gen 
tlemen,  we  will  not  cross  the  Potomac  to-night.  You  will 


162  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

go  to  your  respective  commands,  strengthen  your  lines ; 
send  two  officers  from  each  brigade  towards  the  ford  to 
collect  your  stragglers  and  bring  them  up.  Many  have 
come  in.  I  have  had  the  proper  steps  taken  to  collect  all 
the  men  who  are  in  the  rear.  If  McClellan  wants  to  fight 
in  the  morning,  I  will  give  him  battle.  Go!"24  They 
went,  and  in  this  case  at  least  Lee's  glorious  audacity 
was  justified ;  for  he  proved  to  all  the  world  that  Mc 
Clellan  did  not  dare  attack  him  again. 

However  Lee's  judgment  may  have  been  affected  by 
the  excitement  of  battle,  it  made  little  alteration  in  his 
bearing  or  manner.  Fremantle  tells  us  that  the  general's 
dress  was  always  neat  and  clean,  and  adds  :  "  I  observed 
this  during  the  three  days'  fight  at  Gettysburg,  when 
every  one  else  looked  and  was  extremely  dirty." 25  Stress 
of  conflict  sometimes  seems  to  alter  men's  natures.  Odd 
stories  are  told  in  the  war-books  of  officers  quite  saintly 
in  common  converse  who  in  battle  would  swear  like  re 
probates.  Conversely,  it  is  said  of  the  great  Conde  that 
in  his  daily  dealings  with  his  soldiers  his  tongue  was 
incredibly  rough,  but  the  moment  he  got  under  fire  he 
addressed  everybody  about  him  with  exquisite  politeness. 
Lee's  politeness  was  always  exquisite.  It  was  only  very, 
very  rarely  that  some  untoward  incident  stirred  either 
his  temper  or  his  speech.  "  Probably  no  man  ever  com 
manded  an  army  and,  at  the  same  time,  so  entirely 
\  commanded  himself  as  Lee,"  says  the  cool-blooded 
Alexander.  "This  morning  [after  Chancellorsville]  was 


LEE  IN   BATTLE  163 

almost  the  only  occasion  on  which  I  ever  saw  him  out 
of  humor."  26 

Nor  was  it  only  a  question  of  mere  politeness.  Lee 
was  as  tender  and  sympathetic  to  man  and  beast  in  the 
fury  of  combat,  in  the  chaos  of  defeat,  as  he  could  have 
been  in  his  own  domain  at  Arlington.  After  the  great 
charge  on  the  third  day  at  Gettysburg,  an  officer  rode 
up  to  him  lashing  an  unwilling  horse.  "  Don't  whip  him, 
Captain,  don't  whip  him,"  protested  the  general,  "  I  have 
just  such  another  foolish  beast  myself  and  whipping 
does  n't  do  any  good." 27  And  as  the  tumult  of  disaster 
increased,  the  sympathy  took  larger  forms  of  magna 
nimity  than  mere  prevention  of  cruelty  to  animals.  There 
was  no  fault-finding,  no  shifting  of  perhaps  deserved 
blame  to  others,  nothing  but  calmness,  comfort,  cheer 
fulness,  and  confidence.  "  All  this  will  come  right  in  the 
end ;  we  '11  talk  of  it  afterwards ;  but  in  the  mean  time 
all  good  men  must  rally."  28  "  Never  mind,  General.  All 
this  has  been  my  fault.  It  is  I  that  have  lost  this  fight, 
and  you  must  help  me  out  of  it  the  best  way  you  can."  29 

So,  with  incomparable  patience,  tact,  and  energy, 
the  great  soldier  held  his  army  together  after  defeat 
and  kept  it  in  a  temper  and  condition  which  went  far 
to  justify  Meade's  reluctance  to  follow  up  his  success. 
Only,  to  complete  the  picture,  one  should  turn  to  General 
Imboden's  brief  sketch,  taken  after  the  work  was  done 
and  natural  human  exhaustion  and  despair  claimed  some 
little  right  over  even  a  hero's  nerve  and  brain.  It  must 


i64  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

be  remembered  that  this  was  a  man  fifty-six  years  old. 
Towards  midnight  Lee  rode  up  to  Imboden's  command. 
"When  he  approached  and  saw  us,  he  spoke,  reined  up 
his  horse  and  endeavored  to  dismount.  The  effort  to  do 
so  betrayed  so  much  physical  exhaustion  that  I  stepped 
forward  to  assist  him,  but  before  I  reached  him,  he  had 
alighted.  He  threw  his  arm  across  his  saddle  to  rest 
himself  and,  fixing  his  eyes  upon  the  ground,  leaned  in 
silence  upon  his  equally  weary  horse :  the  two  formed 
a  striking  group,  as  motionless  as  a  statue.  After  some 
expressions  as  to  Pickett's  charge,  etc.,  he  added  in 
a  tone  almost  of  agony,  '  Too  bad  1  Too  bad  1  Oh,  too 
bad  ! ' " 30 

With  the  portrait  of  Lee  himself  in  the  shock  of  battle 
we  should  put  a  background  of  his  soldiers  and  their 
feeling  as  he  came  among  them.  We  have  already  heard 
their  passionate  cry  when  he  rushed  to  put  himself  at 
their  head  and  charge  into  the  thickest  of  the  fight.  "  Go 
back,  General  Lee!  Go  back!"  General  Gordon,  who 
loved  to  throw  a  high-light  of  eloquence  on  all  such 
scenes,  describes  this  one  with  peculiar  vividness,  his 
own  remonstrance,  "These  men  are  Georgians,  Virgin 
ians,  and  Carolinians.  The)''  have  never  failed  you  on 
any  field.  They  will  not  fail  you  now.  Will  you,  boys?" 
and  the  enthusiastic  answer,  "  No,  no,  no ! "  31  Those 
who  like  the  quiet  truth  of  history,  even  when  it  chills, 
will  be  interested  in  an  eye-witness's  simple  comment  on 
this  picturesque  narrative.  "  Gordon  says,  '  We  need  no 


LEE  IN   BATTLE  165 

such  encouragement.'  At  this  some  of  our  soldiers  called 
out,  '  No,  no  ! '  Gordon  continuing,  said,  '  There  is  not 
a  soldier  in  the  Confederate  army  who  would  not  gladly 
lay  down  his  life  to  save  you  from  harm ' ;  but  the  men 
did  not  respond  to  this  last  proposition."  32 

It  cannot  be  doubted,  however,  that  Lee's  personal 
influence  in  critical  moments  was  immense.  On  one  oc 
casion  just  before  battle  there  was  heard  to  pass  from 
mouth  to  mouth  as  a  sort  of  watchword  the  simple 
comment,  "  Remember,  General  Lee  is  looking  at  us."  33 
Mr.  Page  describes  a  scene  which  is  very  effective  as 
showing  how  little  the  general  relied  on  words  and  how 
little  he  needed  to.  Lee  was  riding  through  the  ranks 
before  a  conflict.  He  "  uttered  no  word.  He  simply  re 
moved  his  hat  and  passed  bareheaded  along  the  line. 
I  had  it  from  one  who  witnessed  the  act.  '  It  was,'  said 
he,  '  the  most  eloquent  address  ever  delivered.'  And  a  few 
minutes  later,  as  the  men  advanced  to  the  charge,  he 
heard  a  youth,  as  he  ran  forward,  crying  and  reloading 
his  musket,  shout  through  his  tears  that  '  any  man  who 
would  not  fight  after  what  General  Lee  said  was  a 
coward.'  "  34 

Perhaps  the  most  splendid  battle-piece  of  Lee  in  the 
midst  of  his  fighting  soldiers  is  Colonel  Marshall's  ac 
count  of  the  triumphant  advance  on  the  third  day  at 
Chancellorsville.  The  enemy  were  retiring  and  the 
troops  swept  forward  through  the  tumult  of  battle  and 
the  smoke  of  woods  and  dwellings  burning  about  them. 


166  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

Everywhere  the  field  was  strewn  with  the  wounded  and 
dying  of  both  armies.  "In  the  midst  of  this  scene  Gen 
eral  Lee,  mounted  upon  that  horse  which  we  all  remem 
ber  so  well,  rode  to  the  front  of  his  advancing  battalions. 
His  presence  was  the  signal  for  one  of  those  uncontrol 
lable  outbursts  of  enthusiasm  which  none  can  appreciate 
who  have  not  witnessed  them.  The  fierce  soldiers,  with 
their  faces  blackened  with  the  smoke  of  battle,  the 
wounded,  crawling  with  feeble  limbs  from  the  fury  of  the 
devouring  flames,  all  seemed  possessed  with  a  common 
impulse.  One  long,  unbroken  cheer,  in  which  the  feeble 
cry  of  those  who  lay  helpless  on  the  earth  blended  with 
the  strong  voices  of  those  who  still  fought,  rose  high 
above  the  roar  of  battle,  and  hailed  the  presence  of  the 
victorious  chief.  He  sat  in  the  full  realization  of  all  that 
soldiers  dream  of  —  triumph."  35 

This  was  victory.  But  there  came  a  day  of  defeat, 
when  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia,  after  four  years 
of  fighting  and  triumphing  and  suffering,  shrunk  almost 
to  nothing,  saw  its  great  commander  ride  away  to  make 
his  submission  to  a  generous  conqueror.  Their  love,  their 
loyalty,  their  confidence  were  no  less  than  they  had  ever 
been.  If  he  said  further  fighting  was  useless  and  inhu 
man,  it  must  be  so. 

But  this  very  absolute  confidence  increased  the  weight 
of  the  terrible  decision.  All  these  thousands  trusted  him 
to  decide  for  them.  He  must  decide  right.  What  the 
burden  was  we  can  only  imagine,  never  know.  But 


LEE  IN   BATTLE  167 

through  the  noble  serenity  maintained  by  habitual  effort 
good  observers  detected  signs  of  the  struggle  that  was 
going  on.  "  His  face  was  still  calm,  but  his  carriage  was 
no  longer  erect,  as  his  soldiers  had  been  used  to  see  it. 
The  trouble  of  those  last  days  had  already  ploughed  great 
furrows  in  his  forehead.  His  eyes  were  red  as  if  with 
weeping ;  his  cheeks  sunken  and  haggard ;  his  face  col 
orless.  No  one  who  looked  upon  him  then,  as  he  stood 
there  in  full  view  of  the  disastrous  end,  can  ever  forget 
the  intense  agony  written  upon  his  features.  And  yet  he 
was  calm,  self-possessed,  and  deliberate."  36  So  great  was 
his  anguish  that  it  wrung  a  wish  to  end  it  all,  even  from 
a  natural  self-control  complete  as  his.  "  How  easily  I 
could  get  rid  of  this  and  be  at  rest.  I  have  only  to  ride 
along  the  lines  and  all  will  be  over.  But,"  he  quickly 
added,  "  it  is  our  duty  to  live,  for  what  will  become  of 
the  women  and  children  of  the  South  if  we  are  not  here 
to  support  and  protect  them  ?  "  37 

So  the  decision  had  to  be  made.  And  he  made  it. 
"  Then  there  is  nothing  left  me  but  to  go  and  see  Gen 
eral  Grant,  and  I  would  rather  die  a  thousand  deaths."  38 
His  officers  protested  passionately.  "  O  General,  what 
will  history  say  of  the  surrender  of  the  army  in  the 
field?"  "Yes,  I  know,  they  will  say  hard  things  of  us  ; 
they  will  not  understand  how  we  were  overwhelmed  by 
numbers ;  but  that  is  not  the  question,  Colonel ;  the  ques 
tion  is,  is  it  right  to  surrender  this  army  ?  If  it  is  right, 
then  I  will  take  all  the  responsibility." 39 


168  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

The  scene  that  ensued  has  been  described  often :  the 
plain  farmhouse  room,  the  officers,  curious,  yet  sympa 
thetic,  the  formal  conversation,  as  always  painfully  un 
equal  to  the  huge  event  it  covered,  the  short,  ungainly, 
ill-dressed  man,  as  dignified  in  his  awkwardness  almost 
as  the  royal,  perfectly  appointed  figure  that  conferred 
with  him.  Lee  bore  himself  nobly,  say  his  admirers, 
nobly,  but  a  little  coldly,  say  his  opponents.  And  who 
shall  blame  him  ?  Then  it  was  over.  One  moment  he 
paused  at  the  door,  as  he  went  out,  waiting  for  his  horse  ; 
and  as  he  paused,  looking  far  into  the  tragic  future,  or 
the  tragic  past,  he  struck  his  hands  together  in  a  gesture 
of  immense  despair,  profoundly  significant  for  so  self- 
contained  a  man.40  Then  he  rode  away,  back  to  his 
children,  back  to  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia,  who 
had  seen  him  daily  for  three  years  and  now  would  never 
see  him  any  more. 

In  all  this  scene  two  figures  stand  out  beyond  every 
other,  the  man  who  succeeded  and  the  man  who  failed. 
In  some  respects  there  are  remarkable  resemblances  be 
tween  them.  Though  one  had  old  family  traditions 
behind  him  and  the  other  had  not,  both  were  abso 
lutely  simple,  democratic,  and  indifferent  to  fuss,  par 
ade,  or  show.  Both  were  frank  and  straightforward,  yet 
both  were  men  of  extreme  reticence,  using  as  few  words  as 
possible  and  only  for  the  deliberate  conveyance  of  their 
purposes.  Both,  under  a  calm  if  not  frigid  exterior,  covered 
tender  human  sympathy  and  warm  human  kindness. 


LEE  IN   BATTLE  169 

But  one  was  a  man  of  the  eighteenth  century,  the 
other  of  the  nineteenth,  one  of  the  old  America,  the  other 
of  the  new.  Grant  stands  for  our  modern  world,  with  its 
rough,  business  habits,  its  practical  energy,  its  desire  to 
do  things  no  matter  how,  its  indifference  to  the  sweet 
grace  of  ceremony  and  dignity  and  courtesy.  Lee  had 
the  traditions  of  an  older  day,  not  only  its  high  beliefs, 
but  its  grave  stateliness,  its  feeling  that  the  way  of  doing 
things  was  almost  as  much  as  the  thing  done.  In  short, 
Grant's  America  was  the  America  of  Lincoln,  Lee's  the 
America  of  Washington.  It  is  in  part  because  of  this  dif 
ference  and  because  I  would  fain  believe  that  without 
loss  of  the  one  we  may  some  day  regain  something  of 
the  other  that  I  have  given  so  much  thought  to  the  por 
trayal  of  Lee's  character  and  life. 

Long  ago  Milton  said  that  he  who  would  be  a  great 
poet  must  make  his  own  life  a  true  poem.  Lee  had  cer 
tainly  no  care  for  being  a  great  poet,  but  if  ever  man 
made  his  own  life  a  true  poem,  it  was  he.  Grant's  career 
has  the  vigor,  the  abruptness,  the  patness,  the  roughness 
of  a  terse  military  dispatch.  It  fits  its  place  and  fills  it, 
and  all  is  said.  Lee's  has  the  breadth,  the  dignity,  the 
majesty,  the  round  and  full  completeness  of  a  Miltonic 
epic,  none  the  less  inspiring  because  it  had  a  tragic  end. 
It  was  indeed  a  life  lived  in  the  grand  style. 


VIII 

LEE  AS  A  GENERAL 

IN  the  year  1901  I  was  invited  to  attend  a  meeting  called 
to  discuss  the  question,  who  was  the  greatest  man  of 
the  nineteenth  century.  I  accepted  with  pleasure.  As  all 
those  present  were  citizens  of  the  Northern  portion  of 
the  United  States  they  happily  arrived  at  unanimous 
agreement  upon  Abraham  Lincoln,  just  as  they  would 
have  agreed  upon  Napoleon,  if  they  had  been  French, 
or,  if  they  had  been  Germans,  upon  Bismarck. 

What  interested  me  most  was  that  no  one  seemed  dis 
posed  to  inquire  very  carefully  into  the  essential  or  com 
parative  elements  of  greatness.  How  was  it  about  the 
great  artists,  painters,  sculptors,  and  musicians?  How 
about  the  poets,  or  the  novelists,  who,  like  Scott,  had 
brought  delight  to  millions  ?  How  about  the  great  dis 
coverers  in  science  ?  Or  the  great  philanthropists  ?  Was 
the  greatest  man  he  who  had  shown  the  highest  devel 
opment  of  human  power  and  genius,  as  perhaps  Napo 
leon  ?  Or  he  who  had  pushed  the  standard  of  pure  truth 
some  steps  further  into  outer  darkness,  as  perhaps  Dar 
win  ?  Or  he  who  —  and  I  know  not  even  whom  to  in 
stance  without  too  much  begging  of  the  question  —  had 
been  simply  of  the  greatest  use  and  service  to  humanity  ? 
And  I  could  not  but  be  reminded  of  Edward  FitzGerald's 


LEE  AS  A  GENERAL  171 

caustic  sentence :  "  It  is  wonderful  how  Macaulay,  Hal- 
lam,  and  Mackintosh  could  roar  and  bawl  at  one  another 
over  such  questions  as  which  is  the  Greatest  Poet  ?  Which 
is  the  greatest  work  of  that  Greatest  Poet  ?  etc.,  like  Boys 
at  some  Debating  Society."  1 

FitzGerald,  too,  here  narrows  the  discussion  to  a  par 
ticular  field.  And  with  a  poem  or  a  picture  we  can  at 
least  say,  this  I  prefer,  this  the  majority  of  men  seem  to 
prefer,  though  Heaven  knows  that  even  such  decision  is 
difficult  enough.  But  in  more  complicated  lines  of  hu 
man  activity  the  problem  is  far  more  puzzling,  and  in 
none  more  than  in  that  of  soldiership.  When  I  see  the 
readiness  with  which  persons  whom  I  should  not  sup 
pose  especially  competent  grade,  classify,  and  adjust, 
setting  A  above  B,  B  above  C,  D  above  B  and  C  but 
below  A,  with  the  nicest  accuracy  of  discrimination,  I  can 
only  wonder  and  be  forcibly  reminded  of  FitzGerald's 
little  quip. 

There  are  so  many  things  to  be  taken  into  account. 
Lord  Roberts  quotes  Napoleon's  remark  that  "the  first 
quality  of  a  general  is  that  he  shall  have  a  cool  head," 
and,  as  Wellington  had  a  supremely  cool  head,  infers 
that  he  was  equal,  if  not  superior  to  Napoleon.  But  surely 
a  general  may  use  a  few  other  qualities  besides  coolness. 
Ropes  admirably  suggests  the  difficulties  in  the  discus 
sion  in  his  comparison  of  Joseph  E.  Johnston  with  Lee. 
"  Johnston,"  he  says,  "  possessed  as  good  a  military  mind 
as  any  general  on  either  side ;  but  in  that  fortunate  com- 


172  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

bination  of  qualities — physical,  mental,  and  moral  — 
which  go  to  make  up  a  great  commander,  General  Lee 
was  unquestionably  more  favored  than  any  of  the  leaders 
in  the  Civil  War."  2  Yet  even  here —  "  physical,  mental, 
and  moral"-  -how  much  room  there  is  for  question  and 
distinction. 

After  which,  it  must  be  admitted  that  humanity  will  go 
on  forever  grading  and  ranking,  like  the  great  school 
boys  that  we  all  are.  And  the  instinct  that  impels  us  to 
do  so  is  a  right  instinct.  We  can  never  settle  which  is 
the  greatest  man,  or  what  is  true  greatness.  Yet  we  must 
be  always  trying  to  settle  it.  Only  so  can  we  choose  our 
models  and  examples.  Only  so  can  we  establish  the 
standard  by  which,  however  shifting,  and  uncertain,  and 
imperfect,  we  must  guide  our  lives. 

A  series  of  studies  of  Lee  which  did  not  include  "  Lee 
as  a  General "  would  be  absurd.  Yet  it  cannot  be  expected 
that  a  civilian  should  attempt  any  scientific  analysis  of 
military  genius.  Some  civilians  have  attempted  it,  which 
does  not  encourage  me  in  the  least.  Even  professional 
men  would  do  well  to  remember  Lee's  own  reply,  when 
he  was  asked  to  review  a  book  on  the  Austro-Prussian 
war  in  1866:  "  At  the  time  of  the  occurrence  I  thought  I 
saw  the  mistakes  committed  by  the  Austrians  ;  but  I  did 
not  know  the  facts,  and  you  are  aware  that,  though  it  is 
easy  to  write  on  such  subjects,  it  is  difficult  to  elucidate 
the  truth."  3  If  we  were  all  as  modest  as  this,  I  fear  noth 
ing  would  be  written  about  anything.  Fortunately  we 


LEE  AS  A  GENERAL  173 

are  not.  And  on  the  topic  of  Lee's  soldiership  volumes 
have  been  filled.  I  shall  endeavor  as  briefly  as  possible 
to  illustrate  the  different  points  of  view  and  then  to  state 
some  conclusions,  not  as  to  comparative  rank  but  as 
to  particular  qualities.  But  first  we  should  have  a  rapid 
summary  of  the  unquestioned  facts  of  Lee's  military 
career  during  the  war. 

When  Virginia  seceded,  he  was  made  commander-in- 
chief  of  all  her  forces.  When  she  joined  the  Confeder 
acy,  he  was  appointed  to  organize  the  Southern  troops 
as  they  arrived  in  Richmond.  In  the  autumn  of  1861  he 
conducted  an  inconspicuous  and  unsuccessful  campaign 
in  West  Virginia.  Towards  the  end  of  the  same  year  he 
was  sent  to  take  charge  of  the  seacoast  defenses  of  South 
Carolina  and  Georgia.  Early  in  1862  he  was  called  to 
Richmond  and  made  military  adviser  to  the  president. 
On  the  first  of  June,  in  consequence  of  the  wounding  of 
Johnston,  Lee  took  command  of  the  Army  of  Northern 
Virginia.  He  then  fought  the  series  of  Peninsular  battles, 
which  resulted  in  the  retreat  of  McClellan  and  the  relief 
of  Richmond.  In  the  autumn  he  and  Jackson  defeated 
Pope  in  the  second  battle  of  Bull  Run,  invaded  the  North, 
captured  Harper's  Ferry,  but  were  checked  by  McClel 
lan  at  Antietam,  and  forced  to  withdraw  again  into 
Virginia.  In  December  they  defeated  Burnside  at  Fred- 
ericksburg,  and  in  May,  Hooker  at  Chancellorsville,  the 
latter  victory  being  dearly  bought  by  Jackson's  death. 
Lee  then  invaded  Pennsylvania,  but  was  severely  repulsed 


174  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

by  Meade  at  Gettysburg,  and  once  more  recrossed  the 
Potomac.  In  the  autumn  and  winter  of  1863  and  1864 
the  two  armies  confronted  each  other  at  different  points 
in  Virginia  without  any  very  decisive  contact.  In  the 
spring  Grant  took  control  of  all  the  Northern  forces  and, 
with  Meade  under  him  in  immediate  command  of  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac,  made  his  plans  to  destroy  Lee's 
army  and  push  straight  for  Richmond.  Lee  met  him  at 
point  after  point,  however ;  and  Grant  finally  took  his 
army  across  the  James  to  Petersburg.  Here  he  was  at 
first  no  more  successful  than  in  the  Wilderness.  But  a 
winter  of  privation  and  starvation,  together  with  the  fail 
ure  of  Southern  resources  consequent  upon  Sherman's 
and  other  movements  in  the  South  and  West,  greatly 
reduced  Lee's  strength  and  efficiency ;  and  when  Grant 
and  Sheridan  closed  in  upon  him  in  March  and  April, 
they  very  speedily  brought  about  the  final  surrender  at 
Appomattox. 

Starting  with  this  indisputable  statements  of  events, 
let  us  examine  the  various  estimates  of  Lee's  generalship. 
Let  us  take  first  the  eulogies  of  his  Southern  admirers, 
premising,  however,  that  not  by  any  means  all  Southern 
writing  is  unreasonable  or  extravagant.  The  sane  and 
discriminating  spirit  of  Allan  or  Alexander,  for  example, 
is  but  little  removed  from  the  moderate  tone  of  equally 
cool  heads  on  the  Northern  side.  But  the  usual  strain  of 
Confederate  rhapsody  is  quite  different.  Listen  to  B.  H. 
Hill's  comparison  of  the  Southern  leader  with  other  great 


LEE  AS  A  GENERAL  175 

commanders :  "  He  was  a  Caesar  without  his  ambition ; 
a  Frederick  without  his  tyranny ;  a  Napoleon  without  his 
selfishness ;  and  a  Washington  without  his  reward."  4 
Or  to  General  Gordon's  masterly  rhetoric,  which  is  more 
specifically  military :  "  Compare  this,  my  friends,  the  con 
dition  of  France,  with  the  condition  of  the  United  States, 
in  the  freshness  of  her  strength,  in  the  luxuriance  of  her 
resources,  in  the  lustihood  of  her  gigantic  youth,  and 
tell  me  where  belongs  the  chaplet  of  military  superiority, 
with  Lee,  or  with  Marlborough  or  Wellington  ?  Even  the 
greatest  of  captains,  in  his  Italian  campaigns,  flashing 
his  fame,  in  lightning  splendor,  over  the  world,  even 
Bonaparte  met  and  crushed  in  battle  but  three  or  four 
(I  think)  Austrian  armies ;  while  our  Lee,  with  one  army, 
badly  equipped,  and  in  time  incredibly  short,  met  and 
hurled  back,  in  broken  and  shattered  fragments,  five 
admirably  prepared  and  most  magnificently  appointed 
invasions.  .  .  .  Lee  was  never  really  beaten.  Lee  could 
not  be  beaten !  Overpowered,  foiled  in  his  efforts,  he  might 
be,  but  never  defeated  until  the  props  which  supported 
him  gave  away.  .  .  .  On  that  most  melancholy  of  pages, 
the  downfall  of  the  Confederacy,  no  Leipsic,  no  Water 
loo,  no  Sedan  can  ever  be  recorded."  5  One  is  reminded 
of  Matthew  Arnold's  remark  about  Macaulay's  essay  on 
Milton  :  "  Truly,  with  what  a  heavy  brush  does  this  man 
lay  on  his  colors."  Reverend  J.  William  Jones,  however, 
manages  to  produce  as  great  an  effect  with  much  simpler 
means.  "  I  think  I  put  it  very  conservatively  when  I  say 


176  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

that  he  had  proven  himself  the  greatest  soldier  of  the  war, 
if  not  of  history."  6  What  would  the  reverend  gentleman 
have  said,  if  he  had  not  wished  to  be  conservative  ? 

Now  let  us  turn  to  those  who  are  as  evidently  prejud 
iced  against  Lee  as  these  eulogists  in  his  favor.  The 
fault-finders  are  not  all  Northerners.  In  the  early  days, 
before  the  general's  reputation  was  established,  there 
was  plenty  of  criticism  in  the  South.  Thus  Pollard,  who 
afterwards  became  an  enthusiastic  admirer,  could  say  in 
regard  to  the  West  Virginia  campaign,  "  a  general  who 
had  never  fought  a  battle,  who  had  a  pious  horror  of 
guerrillas,  and  whose  extreme  tenderness  of  blood  in 
clined  him  to  depend  exclusively  upon  the  resources  of 
strategy"  ; 7  and  even  after  the  Peninsula,  "  Lee,  who  by 
no  fault  of  his  own  was  followed  by  toadies,  flatterers, 
and  newspaper  sneaks  in  epaulets  who  made  him  ridic 
ulous  by  their  servile  obeisances  and  excess  of  praise." 8 
Longstreet,  who  loved  Lee  personally,  was  goaded  by 
the  attacks  of  Lee's  admirers  on  his  own  record  into 
a  frankness  of  comment  which  sounds  far  different  from 
the  ecstasies  quoted  above.  "  On  the  defensive  Lee  was 
absolutely  perfect  .  .  .  but  of  the  art  of  war,  more  partic 
ularly  of  that  of  giving  battle,  I  do  not  think  General 
Lee  was  a  master.  In  science  and  military  learning  he  was 
greatly  the  superior  of  General  Grant,  or  any  other  com 
mander  on  either  side.  But  in  the  art  of  war  I  have  no  doubt 
that  Grant  and  several  others  were  his  equals.  In  the  field 
his  characteristic  fault  was  headlong  combativeness."  9 


LEE  AS  A  GENERAL  177 

Longstreet's  strictures,  as  indeed  those  of  most  critics, 
are  chiefly  connected  with  Gettysburg,  in  Longstreet's 
case  not  unnaturally,  since  the  responsibility  for  the  fail 
ure  of  that  battle  has  usually  been  made  to  rest  either 
with  Longstreet  or  with  Lee.  Longstreet  had  his  own 
ideas  beforehand  of  what  should  be  done.  He  tried  to 
persuade  Lee  to  accept  them.  Lee  declined,  and  told 
Longstreet  what  he  himself  wished.  Longstreet  either 
would  not  or  could  not  carry  out  the  general's  wishes, 
and  the  battle  was  lost.  The  following  are  a  few  of 
Longstreet's  remarks.  "The  cause  of  the  battle  was  sim 
ply  General  Lee's  determination  to  fight  it  out  from  the 
position  in  which  he  was  at  that  time."  10  "He  seemed 
under  a  subdued  excitement,  which  took  possession  of 
him  when  *  the  hunt  was  up '  and  threatened  his  superb 
poise."  n  "  There  is  no  doubt  that  General  Lee  during 
the  crisis  of  that  campaign  lost  the  matchless  equipoise 
that  usually  characterized  him."  12  And  the  lieutenant 
supports  himself  by  a  quotation  which  it  takes  all  the 
authority  of  his  character  as  a  soldier  and  a  gentleman 
to  make  us  accept.  He  says  that  when  he  was  in  Ten 
nessee  Lee  wrote  him,  "  If  I  only  had  taken  your  counsel 
even  on  the  3d,  and  had  moved  around  the  Federal  left, 
how  different  all  might  have  been."  13  Lee's  own  quiet 
comment  elsewhere  on  the  battle  does  not  sound  to 
me  entirely  consistent  with  this :  "  It  would  have  been 
gained,  could  one  determined  and  united  blow  have 
been  delivered  by  our  whole  line." 14 


1 78  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

If  we  wish  to  get  the  extreme  Northern  partisan  view 
of  Lee's  generalship,  we  must  come  down  a  little  later 
than  Gettysburg,  to  the  Wilderness,  and  listen  to  Badeau. 
Badeau  had,  of  course,  but  one  object,  to  exalt  Grant ; 
and  it  is  extremely  curious  to  see  how  his  disposition 
to  do  this  directly  by  depreciating  Lee  is  constantly 
checked  by  his  realization  that  since  Grant  finally  won, 
the  more  able  Lee  can  be  shown  to  have  been,  the 
greater  is  the  glory  of  having  beaten  him.  Some  re 
serves  are,  therefore,  made  in  favor  of  Lee's  defensive 
generalship.  But  for  the  most  part,  he  is  unequal  to  his 
opportunities  and  much  overrated.  In  the  first  place,  he 
is  morally  not  all  he  should  be :  "  The  fact  is  that  Lee 
was  often  disingenuous  in  his  reports.  He  did  not  abso 
lutely  falsify,  but  he  colored  and  concealed  so  as  to  con 
vey  a  very  incorrect  impression."  15  Militarily,  his  genius 
served  for  little  more  than  to  be  a  foil  to  Grant's.  "  The 
genius  of  the  leader  as  well  as  the  valor  of  his  men  was 
reserved  for  negative  displays."  16  His  was  the  "  natural 
policy  of  a  second-rate  commander."  17  "  Grant  himself, 
in  Lee's  situation',  would  never  have  been  content  with 
a  negative  defense."  18  "  And  whether  his  spirit  was 
cowed  and  acknowledged  its  master,  or  whether  Grant's 
skill  was  so  absolute  as  to  allow  no  opportunity,  the 
rebel  general  never  again  [after  the  Wilderness]  as 
sumed  a  completely  offensive  attitude." 19 

This  sort  of  thing  would  appear  quite  as  hyperbolical 
as  the  Southern  praise,  were  it  not  that  so  great  an 


LEE  AS  A  GENERAL  179 

authority  as  Grant  himself  uses  very  much  the  same 
expressions.  During  his  trip  around  the  world  he  said 
to  Young :  "  I  never  ranked  Lee  so  high  as  some  others 
in  the  army,  that  is  to  say,  I  never  had  so  much  anxiety 
when  he  was  in  my  front  as  when  Joe  Johnston  was  in 
front.  [Yet  Grant  said  to  Meade  in  the  Wilderness, 
"  Joe  Johnston  would  have  retired  after  two  days'  such 
punishment."  20]  Lee  was  a  good  man,  a  fair  commander, 
who  had  everything  in  his  favor.  He  was  a  man  who 
needed  sunshine.  .  .  .  Lee  was  of  a  slow,  cautious  nature, 
without  imagination  or  humor,  always  the  same,  with 
grave  dignity.  I  never  could  see  in  his  achievements 
what  justified  his  reputation.  The  illusion  that  heavy 
odds  beat  him  will  not  stand  the  ultimate  light  of  his 
tory.  I  know  it  is  not  true.  Lee  was  a  good  deal  of  a 
headquarters  general,  from  what  I  can  hear  and  from 
what  his  officers  say.  He  was  almost  too  old  for  active 
service  —  the  best  service  in  the  field."21  Grant's  writ 
ten  words  in  his  "  Memoirs,"  though  more  guarded,  are 
to  the  same  effect.  I  am  not  aware  that  he  ever  said  any 
thing  in  commendation  of  Lee's  military  ability.  Lee  is 
reported — to  be  sure,  on  rather  circuitous  authority  —  to 
have  remarked  after  the  war :  "  I  have  carefully  searched 
the  military  records  of  both  ancient  and  modern  history, 
and  have  never  found  Grant's  superior  as  a  general."  22 
With  the  flight  of  years  and  the  cooling  of  passion, 
Northern  judgment  has  come  to  take  an  attitude  very 
different  from  Badeau's.23  To  begin  with,  Lee's  immense 


i8o  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

difficulties  are  better  appreciated.  Grant  says  he  needed 
sunshine  and  support.  It  may  be  so,  but  he  did  not 
always  get  them.  Often  he  was  obliged  to  relinquish  his 
own  plans  for  those  of  others,  and  even  in  carrying  out 
his  own  he  was  so  hampered  by  superior  authority  that 
the  results  could  not  properly  be  said  to  be  his.  And  the 
limitation  of  authority  was  less  serious  than  the  limita 
tion  of  resources.  Grant  had  men,  money,  means  of  all 
sorts  at  his  back.  Lee's  numbers  shrank  daily  and  could 
not  be  replaced,  and  the  men  he  had  could  not  be  armed 
or  shod  or  clothed  or  fed.  The  pitifulness  of  his  disabili 
ties  in  this  respect  can  only  be  appreciated  by  wide  read 
ing  of  his  correspondence  and  that  of  others.  He  was 
not  a  man  to  complain,  yet  passage  after  passage  like 
the  following  occurs :  "  I  can  do  nothing  for  want  of 
proper  supplies.  With  these  and  effective  horses  I  think 
I  could  disturb  the  quiet  of  the  enemy  and  drive  him  to 
the  Potomac."  24  When  he  was  asked,  after  the  war,  why 
he  did  not  advance  upon  Washington  after  the  Second 
Bull  Run,  he  answered,  "  Because  my  men  had  nothing 
to  eat.  I  could  not  tell  my  men  to  take  that  fort  [point 
ing  to  Fort  Wade]  when  they  had  had  nothing  to  eat 
for  three  days.  I  went  to  Maryland  to  feed  my  army."  25 
Palfrey's  comment  on  this  sort  of  thing,  though  not  well 
taken  in  the  South,  has  a  good  deal  of  force  in  it.  He 
says,  in  substance,  that  one  reason  the  Army  of  North 
ern  Virginia  fought  so  splendidly  was  that  victory  meant 
a  square  meal  at  last. 


LEE  AS  A  GENERAL  181 

The  Northern  critics  who  are  most  favorable  to  Lee 
of  course  all  admit  that  he  made  mistakes.  He  himself 
would  have  been  the  first  to  recognize  this,  as  in  his 
well-known  humorous  comment  on  the  newspaper  edit 
ors  :  "  Even  as  poor  a  soldier  as  I  am  can  generally  dis 
cover  mistakes  after  it  is  all  over.  But  if  I  could  only 
induce  these  wise  gentlemen  who  see  them  so  clearly 
beforehand  to  communicate  with  me  in  advance,  it  would 
be  far  better  for  my  reputation  and  —  what  is  of  more 
consequence  —  far  better  for  the  cause."26 

In  regard  to  Gettysburg,  Northern  writers  generally 
feel  that  Lee  was  wrong.  He  did  not  mean  to  fight  there 
and  never  should  have  fought  there,  as  he  did.  They 
hold  that  he  violated  Jomini's  fundamental  principle: 
"These  two  bloody  days  [of  Eylau]  prove  how  dubious 
must  be  the  success  of  an  attack  which  is  directed  at  the 
front  and  centre  of  a  well-concentrated  enemy :  even  if 
victory  is  won,  it  is  too  dearly  bought  to  be  of  any 
use."  27  "  He  [Lee]  could  easily  have  manoeuvred  Meade 
out  of  his  strong  position  on  the  heights  and  should  have 
done  so,"  says  Doubleday,28  though  he  remarks  a  little 
later  that  ''the  great  effort  of  Wilcox  and  Wright  would 
have  been  ruinous,  if  followed  up,"  29  which  surely  shows 
that  the  second  day  might  have  proved  successful  for 
the  South.  Ropes  and  Colonel  W.  R.  Livermore  go  fur 
ther,  holding  that  Gettysburg  was  merely  the  culmina 
tion  of  a  series  of  unjustifiable  audacities.  Ropes  main 
tained  that  the  risk  of  the  Second  Bull  Run  campaign 


182  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

was  greater  than  was  justified  by  the  chance  of  advan 
tage.  "The  rules  of  war  allow  of  no  such  dangerous 
movement  as  Jackson's,  unless  the  object  is  far  more 
important  than  the  one  which  on  this  occasion  he  pro 
posed  to  himself."  30  Elsewhere  he  says  that  Lee  "  showed 
on  several  occasions  a  singular  lack  of  caution." 31  And 
although  he  contrasts  Jackson's  flank  attack  at  Chancel- 
lorsville  with  others  as  a  case  where  the  risk  was  worth 
running  for  the  great  results  to  be  obtained,  he  agrees  in 
the  main  with  Colonel  Livermore  that  Gettysburg  may  be 
regarded  as  the  last  act  of  a  drama  that  began  long  be 
fore.32  "It  is  certainly  a  mistake,"  writes  Ropes,  " for  a 
general  to  overestimate  his  adversary's  strength  and 
prowess ;  it  is  no  less  a  mistake,  however,  to  underrate 
them.  But  this  was,  as  we  know,  the  habit  of  General 
Lee's  mind ;  and  his  subsequent  successes  confirmed 
him  in  it.  It  was  not  until  the  disastrous  assault  on  the 
heights  of  Gettysburg  that  he  found  out  his  mistake."  33 

Nor  do  the  Northern  critics  confine  their  strictures  to 
Gettysburg  and  its  immediate  antecedents.  They  insist 
that  in  the  earlier  Peninsula  campaign,  important  as  the 
results  were,  they  might  have  been  much  greater,  and  that 
Malvern  Hill  was  almost  as  ill-managed  as  Gettysburg. 
And  they  recognize  that  the  failure  to  anticipate  Grant's 
crossing  of  the  James,  was  a  very  serious  and  unfortun 
ate  oversight. 

Yet,  in  spite  of  all  this,  it  would  be  difficult  for  intel 
ligent  enthusiasm  to  be  warmer  or  more  generous  than 


LEE  AS  A  GENERAL  183 

that  of  many  of  these  Northern  writers  for  their  ancient 
adversary.  Some  of  them  by  no  means  agree  in  con 
demning  even  Gettysburg.  General  Hunt  thought  that 
"  a  battle  was  necessary  to  Lee  and  a  defeat  would  be 
more  disastrous  to  Meade,  and  less  so  to  himself,  at 
Gettysburg  than  at  any  other  point  east  of  it."  34  Ropes 
cannot  refuse  his  admiration  to  the  very  rashness  which 
he  blames.  "  One  hardly  knows  which  is  the  more  re 
markable  —  General  Lee's  sagacity  in  estimating  the 
inertia  of  his  antagonist  [before  Fredericksburg] ,  or  his 
temerity  in  confronting  him  so  long  with  a  force  only  one 
third  as  strong,  and  actually  for  a  time  refusing  the  aid 
which  Jackson  was  bringing  to  him." 35  As  to  the  con 
duct  of  the  Wilderness  campaign  there  is  a  general  con 
cord  of  commendation.  Instead  of  agreeing  with  Badeau 
that  Lee  was  cowed  out  of  all  initiative,  Colonel  Dodge 
says  :  "  Grant's  method  was  just  what  Lee  preferred.  He 
was  right  in  not  coming  out  of  his  intrenchments  to 
fight."  36  "  Grant  had  been  thoroughly  defeated  in  his 
attempt  to  walk  past  General  Lee  on  his  way  to  Rich 
mond,"  writes  General  Webb.37  And  Colonel  W.  R. 
Livermore,  the  latest  authority  on  the  subject,  declares 
(in  answer  to  a  frequent  comment  on  the  Wilderness 
battles)  that  "it  was  due  to  Lee's  skill  that  he  fought  be 
hind  breastworks,"  38  that  "  if  Grant  in  the  spring  of  1864 
had  come  to  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia  and  Lee  to 
the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  it  is  not  impossible  that  the  war 
would  have  ended  then  and  there,"  39  and  that  "  this  cam- 


1 84  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

paign  alone  would  entitle  him  to  the  high  place  he  justly 
holds  among  the  great  commanders  of  the  world." 40 

Nor  is  Northern  eulogy  of  Lee  confined  to  the  conduct 
of  special  campaigns.  Mr.  Bache,  in  his  "  Life  of  Meade," 
writes,  "  He  had  not,  like  most  successful  generals,  as 
Tacitus  says,  become  insolent  with  success,  but  had  never 
failed  in  gentle  courtesy  to  his  officers,  in  boundless 
tenderness  to  his  men,  in  humanity  to  all,  and  in  word 
and  deed  had  proved  himself  the  rarest  type  of  soldier 
and  gentleman."  41  Colonel  W.  R.  Livermore  calls  him 
"  the  greatest  general  of  the  day."  42  Ropes  says  that  the 
feeling  in  the  army  towards  the  commander  was  "one 
of  entire  confidence  and  enthusiastic  devotion.  This  was 
not  because  it  was  a  Southern  army,  but  because  the 
Army  of  Northern  Virginia  was  so  fortunate  as  to  have 
in  Lee  a  man  who  was  head  and  shoulders  above  his 
colleagues."  43  And  Colonel  Roosevelt  has  added  his 
testimony  to  all  the  rest:  "As  a  mere  military  man 
Washington  himself  cannot  rank  with  the  wonderful 
war-chief  who  for  four  years  led  the  Army  of  Northern 
Virginia."  44  And  again :  Lee  "  will  undoubtedly  rank  as 
without  any  exception  the  greatest  of  all  the  great  cap 
tains  that  the  English-speaking  people  have  brought 
forth  —  and  this,  although  the  last  and  chief  of  his  an 
tagonists  may  claim  to  stand  as  the  full  equal  of  Marl- 
borough  and  Wellington."  45 

Now  let  us  turn  to  the  opinion  of  foreign  military  ex 
perts  and  critics,  which  should  be  more  impartial  than 


LEE  AS  A  GENERAL  185 

that  of  any  American.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  in  the  early 
days  the  foreigners  who  wrote  about  the  war  were  cer 
tainly  not  impartial.  The  Comte  de  Paris,  excellent  as 
his  history  is,  was  distinctly  Northern  in  his  sympathies. 
Fremantle  and  Scheibert  were  even  more  distinctly 
Southern.  And  when  Lord  Wolseley  said  of  Lee,  "  He 
was  the  ablest  general,  and  to  me  seemed  the  greatest 
man  I  had  ever  conversed  with ;  and  yet  I  have  had  the 
privilege  of  meeting  Von  Moltke  and  Prince  Bismarck. 
.  .  .  General  Lee  was  one  of  the  few  men  who  ever  seri 
ously  impressed  and  awed  me  with  their  natural  and 
their  inherent  greatness,"46  he  was  probably  somewhat 
influenced  by  personal  sympathy  with  the  Southern 
leader  and  the  cause  he  served. 

Within  the  last  ten  or  fifteen  years,  however,  there  has 
come  up  a  generation  of  English  critics  whose  interest 
in  our  Civil  War  seems  to  be  almost  purely  impersonal 
and  scientific.  They  are  perfectly  ready  to  find  ability 
and  military  genius  on  the  Northern  side  as  well  as  on 
the  Southern.  Indeed,  I  think  they  are  generally  inclined 
to  estimate  Grant's  soldiership  more  highly  than  is  usual 
with  many  of  the  more  rigorous  Northern  writers.  The 
judgments  of  these  Englishmen  in  regard  to  Lee  have, 
therefore,  a  peculiar  interest  and  suggestiveness. 

Here  again,  there  is  of  course  no  attempt  to  overlook 
or  belittle  Lee's  errors.  Henderson  is  inclined,  in  many 
cases,  to  criticize  Lee's  use  of  his  cavalry,  especially  dur 
ing  the  early  part  of  the  war.  As  to  the  sequel,  or  lack 


186  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

of  sequel,  to  Malvern  Hill,  Captain  Battine  remarks,  "  It 
can  now  be  said  that  Lee  missed  a  grand  opportunity ; " 47 
and  the  same  writer  says  of  the  movements  against 
Meade  in  the  autumn  of  1863,  "It  cannot  be  denied  that 
Lee,  great  strategist  as  he  was,  on  this  occasion,  as  on 
the  march  to  Gettysburg,  clung  too  long  to  his  precon 
ceived  scheme  of  how  the  campaign  should  develop,  nor 
did  he  watch  as  narrowly  as  he  should  have  done  for  the 
first  good  chance  to  strike." 48  As  to  the  great  crux  of 
Gettysburg  I  think  the  English  critics  are  a  little  more 
lenient  than  the  American,  and  Battine  even  declares 
that  the  decision  to  attack  was  "  sound  and  wise,  the 
failure  lay  in  faults  of  execution  which  were  caused,  to 
some  extent,  at  any  rate,  by  the  want  of  sympathetic 
cooperation  of  the  corps  commanders," 49  while  Wood 
and  Edmunds  hold  that  Jackson  in  Longstreet's  place 
would  have  "  annihilated  the  greater  part  of  Meade's 
army  and  forced  the  remainder  to  retreat  on  Washing 
ton."50  Beside  this  it  is  well  to  place  Henderson's  quiet 
comment,  substantially  in  accord  with  Ropes  and  Colonel 
Livermore  :  "  I  am  forced  to  the  conclusion  that  at  Get 
tysburg  Lee's  whole  army  suffered  from  overconfid- 
ence."  51  Henderson  is  also  decidedly  critical  as  to  Lee's 
failure  to  keep  track  of  Grant's  crossing  of  the  James. 
"  Grant  certainly  outmanoeuvred  Lee.  It  was  only  the 
slackness  of  one  of  his  subordinates  that  saved  the  Con 
federate  army  not  indeed  from  defeat,  but  from  being 
driven  back  into  Richmond  itself."  52 


LEE  AS  A  GENERAL  187 

On  the  other  hand,  these  critics  unite  in  the  warmest 
admiration  for  Lee's  greatness  and  genius.  This  appears 
in  the  remarks  on  individual  operations.  Henderson 
says,  speaking  of  the  Second  Bull  Run,  "If,  as  Von 
Moltke  avers,  the  junction  of  two  armies  in  the  field  of 
battle  is  the  highest  achievement  of  military  genius,  the 
campaign  against  Pope  has  seldom  been  surpassed. 
.  .  .  Tried  by  this  test  alone,  Lee  stands  out  as  one  of 
the  greatest  soldiers  of  all  times."  53  In  regard  to  the  Wil 
derness  campaign  Captain  Vaughan-Sawyer writes :  "In 
this  [Lee's  not  taking  the  offensive]  only  a  few  of  his 
detractors  have  seen  evidence  of  failing  courage.  Act 
ually,  it  is  only  another  exhibition  of  his  genius,  which 
enabled  him  to  see  that  the  day  for  those  tactics  was 
passed.  His  unerring  perception  told  him  that  his  only 
chance  lay  in  wearing  out  his  enemy  and  he  would  not 
be  tempted  into  a  false  move."  54  And  Captain  Battine's 
verdict  is  even  more  favorable:  "Lee  had  emerged  tri 
umphant  from  a  campaign  which  is  surpassed  by  no 
other  in  gallant  fighting  and  skillful  direction.  Even  the 
glories  of  the  campaign  of  France  in  1814,  and  Fred 
erick's  wonderful  defiance  of  his  enemies  in  the  Seven 
Years'  War,  pale  before  Lee's  astonishing  performance ; 
for  neither  Napoleon  till  he  met  Wellington,  nor  Frederick 
at  any  time,  was  opposed  to  such  a  dangerous  enemy  as 
Grant."  55 

The  general  summaries  as  to  Lee's  ability  are  in  the 
same  enthusiastic  tone.  Henderson,  like  Colonel  Roose- 


188  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

velt,  improved  on  Von  Moltke's  reported  dictum  that  the 
Southern  commander  was  in  all  respects  the  equal  of 
Wellington  by  calling  him  "undoubtedly  one  of  the 
greatest  if  not  the  greatest  soldier  who  ever  spoke  the 
English  tongue."56  And  Captain  Battine,  concluding  his 
estimate  of  the  general's  character,  says :  "  In  the  tact 
and  diplomatic  skill  with  which  he  softened  the  jealous 
ies  of  his  people  and  tightened  the  combination  of  the 
different  states  he  is  only  to  be  compared  with  the  great 
Duke  of  Marlborough.  In  the  boldness  and  sagacity  of 
his  strategy  and  in  the  affectionate  devotion  he  inspired 
in  his  troops  he  resembled  Napoleon  himself.  He  en 
joyed  alike  the  confidence  of  the  nation,  government, 
and  army,  which  he  never  lost  for  an  instant  in  the  dark 
est  days  of  misfortune.  .  .  .  Such  as  he  was,  brave,  chiv 
alrous,  and  conscientious  to  a  fault,  he  will  remain  the 
most  attractive  personality  among  American  heroes  and 
one  of  the  most  famous  of  the  world's  great  generals."  57 
For  the  eulogy  of  Lee  which  is  at  once  the  most  en 
thusiastic  and  the  most  discriminating  we  must,  however, 
return  to  the  United  States.  Colonel  Eben  Swift,  in  his 
paper  read  before  the  American  Historical  Society  in 
1910,  reviews  the  Wilderness  battles  in  the  light  of  the 
military  equipment  and  conditions  of  to-day,  and  in 
cidentally  discusses  Lee's  handling  of  the  material  and 
resources  that  he  had.  Colonel  Swift  is  a  member  of  the 
United  States  General  Staff,  and  his  opinion  should, 
therefore,  represent  the  latest  and  most  scientific  military 


LEE  AS  A  GENERAL  189 

judgment.  He  writes  as  follows:  "All  great  soldiers 
before  him  inherited  a  ready-made  army,  but  Lee  made 
his  own  army.  None  of  the  others  probably  encountered 
as  dangerous  an  adversary  as  Grant,  and  none  of  them 
except  Hannibal,  and  Napoleon  in  the  last  two  years, 
were  opposed  to  soldiers  as  good  as  their  own.  The  odds 
of  numbers  were  greater  against  Lee  in  the  Wilderness 
campaign  than  they  were  against  Napoleon  in  the 
Waterloo  campaign.  But  Lee  had  his  army  at  the  end 
and  Napoleon's  disaster  was  complete.  In  the  Wilderness 
campaign  Lee  inflicted  losses  in  killed  and  wounded 
almost  as  great  as  the  army  he  commanded.  Lee  made 
five  campaigns  in  a  single  year;  no  other  man  and  no 
other  army  ever  did  so  much.  .  .  .  Lee  practiced  his 
own  theory  of  the  art  of  war.  Although  indebted  to 
Napoleon,  he  treated  each  problem  as  a  concrete  case, 
which  he  solved  according  to  circumstances,  and  he  had 
his  greatest  success  when  he  departed  furthest  from  es 
tablished  rules.  Napoleon  formulated  the  principle  at 
St.  Helena  that  you  must  never  uncover  your  line  of 
retreat  or  fight  a  battle  with  a  front  to  a  flank.  Lee's 
violation  of  that  rule  placed  Grant's  plans  in  the  Wilder 
ness  in  greater  danger  than  they  ever  were  at  any  period 
of  the  campaign.  But  Lee's  art  seems  to  have  died  with 
him.  Up  to  the  present  he  has  taught  no  pupil  and  he 
has  inspired  no  successor."  58 

After  feasting  on  this  luxury  of  comparative  estimates 
of  Lee's  military  greatness,  the  reader  certainly  has  no 


I9o  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

desire  to  hear  mine.  It  will  now,  however,  be  profitable 
to  dwell  for  a  moment  on  some  special  elements  of  his 
character  which  are  particularly  significant  in  connection 
with  his  soldiership. 

In  the  first  place,  there  is  his  organizing,  systematizing 
ability.  As  Colonel  Swift  says,  "  All  great  soldiers  before 
him  inherited  a  ready-made  army,  but  he  made  his  own 
army."  So  far  as  the  civil  authorities  would  allow,  he 
built  it  up  from  its  component  elements  and  made  it  one 
of  the  finest  fighting  machines  in  the  world.  As  a  little 
minor  instance  of  his  thoughtfulness,  it  is  interesting  to 
note  that  he  is  credited  with  having  suggested  the  gray 
uniform  on  account  of  its  protective  quality.59  But  in  a 
thousand  details,  large  and  small,  he  was  always  caring 
for  the  effectiveness  of  his  soldiers  and  for  their  comfort. 
This  talent  for  organization  is  apt  to  go,  as  it  did  in 
McClellan's  case,  with  too  great  deliberation,  a  constitu 
tional  reluctance  to  give  up  plans  and  depart  from  pro 
grammes.  What  is  remarkable  about  Lee  is  that  he  in 
stantly  responded  to  the  demands  of  the  occasion  and 
strode  right  out  of  all  rules  and  right  over  them. 

Then  there  is  his  boldness  —  or  rashness.  Some  of  his 
detractors  assert  that  he  failed  in  offense.  Others  that 
he  was  too  aggressive.  These  charges  contradict  each 
other,  say  his  friends.  They  do  not.  Nothing  requires  a 
cool  head  and  perfect  calm,  so  much  as  a  vigorous  and 
daring  system  of  attack.  And  if  Lee's  offensive  really 
failed,  it  was  because  a  too  great  combativeness  hurled 


LEE  AS  A  GENERAL  191 

him  for  the  moment  off  his  balance.  As  Sainte-Beuve 
says  of  Napoleon,  there  were  times  when  he  broke  loose 
from  the  world  of  men  into  the  world  of  Titans.  When 
Lee  first  took  command  of  the  army,  General  Alexander 
asked  General  Ives  whether  he  had  audacity  enough. 
"Alexander,"  said  Ives,  "if  there  is  one  man  in  either 
army,  Confederate  or  Federal,  head  and  shoulders  above 
every  other  in  audacity,  it  is  General  Lee.  His  name 
might  be  Audacity.  He  will  take  more  desperate  chances 
and  take  them  quicker  than  any  other  man  in  this  coun 
try,  North  or  South." 60  At  the  same  time,  it  should 
be  remembered  that  Jackson  felt  obliged  to  defend  Lee 
against  the  charge  of  excessive  caution  and  to  point  out 
that  he  had  the  responsibility  of  a  great  army  on  his 
hands  and  felt  it. 

In  regard  to  this  matter  of  taking  chances,  Lee  should 
be  heard  in  his  own  defense.  He  recognized  perfectly 
again  and  again  that  he  ran  enormous  risks  ;  but  he  felt 
that  in  his  situation  it  was  absolutely  necessary.  "  If  you 
can  accomplish  the  object,  any  risk  would  be  justifi 
able,"  61  he  writes  to  D.  H.  Hill,  early  in  the  war.  Again, 
"  There  is  always  hazard  in  military  movements,  but  we 
must  decide  between  the  possible  loss  of  inaction  and 
the  risk  of  action."  62  And  after  all  was  over,  his  cool 
observation  on  the  matter  was  that  criticism  of  his  rash 
ness  was  obvious,  but  that  the  disparity  between  the 
forces  rendered  such  risks  unavoidable.63  It  may  at  least 
be  observed  that  when  a  man  thrice  in  succession  takes 


I92  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

the  apparently  fearful  chances  of  the  Second  Bull  Run, 
of  Antietam,  of  Chancellorsville,  and  comes  out  whole, 
if  not  triumphant,  there  may  be  something  more  in  it 
than  the  mere  luck  of  the  successful  gambler. 

Another  quality  of  Lee's,  and  one  that  will  hardly  be 
disputed,  is  energy  and  rapidity  of  action.  Napoleon 
said,  "  In  the  art  of  war,  as  in  mechanics,  time  is  the 
great  element  that  balances  the  force  and  the  resist 
ance."  64  The  promptness  with  which  Lee  drew  Jackson 
to  himself  before  the  Peninsular  battles  and  before  Fred- 
ericksburg,  the  vigor  and  swiftness  of  the  retreat  from 
Gettysburg,  above  all,  the  instant  preparedness  which 
met  Grant  at  point  after  point  as  he  circled  about  Rich 
mond,  would  surely  have  won  the  approval  of  Napoleon 
himself. 

As  to  energy,  and  especially  as  to  independence,  of 
decision  there  is  more  dispute.  It  is  sometimes  asserted 
that  Lee  deferred  too  much  to  the  judgment  of  his  of 
ficers.  I  feel  that  there  may  be  some  misapprehension 
here.  Lee,  when  he  chose,  could  be  as  secret  as  Jackson. 
He  liked  to  consult  his  subordinates  because  they  liked 
it.  He  was  genuinely  interested  in  their  opinions.  I 
doubt  if  he  ever  felt  the  need  of  any  one's  support  for 
his  own  judgment  or,  at  any  rate,  the  desire  to  divide 
his  responsibility.  As  to  the  great  latitude  he  gave  his 
division  commanders  in  the  field,  Henderson  believes 
that  he  was  simply  anticipating  the  latest  developments 
of  modern  war,  which  prescribe  "first,  that  an  army 


LEE  AS  A  GENERAL  193 

cannot  be  effectively  controlled  from  headquarters  ;  sec 
ond,  that  the  man  on  the  spot  is  the  best  judge  of  the 
situation ;  third,  that  intelligent  cooperation  is  of  more 
value  than  mechanical  obedience."65  It  can  hardly  be 
denied,  however,  that  Lee  was  too  considerate,  not  of 
the  opinions  but  of  the  feelings  of  his  subordinates.  As 
his  nephew  said  of  him,  "  He  had  a  reluctance  to  oppose 
the  wishes  of  others  or  to  order  anything  that  would  be 
disagreeable  or  to  which  they  would  not  consent."  66 

Among  the  foremost  of  Lee's  military  qualities  we 
must  put  his  knowledge  of  human  nature.  I  have  al 
ready  dwelt  upon  the  importance  of  this  in  his  dealings 
with  his  own  army.  It  was  quite  as  useful  to  him  in  his 
dealings  with  the  enemy.  Possibly  his  divination  of 
actual  plans  and  movements  may  have  been  somewhat 
exaggerated.  Sir  Edward  Hamley  gives  us  an  excellent 
caution  in  this  regard.  "  Historians,"  he  says,  "  are  fond 
of  ascribing  to  successful  generals  such  endowments  as 
'  prescience/  '  intuitive  divination  of  their  enemy's  de 
signs.'  There  will  be  evidence  in  subsequent  pages  that 
these  gifts,  in  the  preternatural  extent  implied,  exist  only 
in  the  imagination  of  the  chroniclers,  and  in  this  cam 
paign  [Jena]  Napoleon  had  in  three  days  made  three 
erroneous  calculations  of  the  Prussian  doings."  67 

But  although  Lee  may  not  always  have  foreseen  the 
actual  plan,  he  had  the  keenest  appreciation  of  the  man 
who  made  it  and  the  way  in  which  he  was  likely  to  carry 
it  out.  Certainly  no  one  could  say  of  him  what  Lord 


194  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

Wolseley,  rather  surprisingly,  says  of  Napoleon:  " Al 
though  I  believe  Napoleon  to  have  been  by  far  the 
greatest  of  all  great  men,  he  has  always  struck  me  as 
having  been  a  bad  judge  of  character."  68  Lee's  com 
ments  on  McClellan,  on  Pope,  on  Hooker,  on  Meade,  on 
Grant,  still  more  his  conduct  when  confronted  with  each 
of  them,  show  how  watchful  and  how  careful  his  judg 
ment  was  with  regard  to  them  all.  And,  as  always  with 
him,  this  results  not  merely  from  intuition,  but  from  pro 
found  study.  Polybius  said,  two  thousand  years  ago, 
"  It  is  to  be  ignorant  or  blind  in  the  science  of  command 
ing  armies  to  think  that  a  general  has  anything  more 
important  than  to  apply  himself  to  learn  the  inclinations 
and  character  of  his  adversary."  Lee  so  understood  his 
business.  He  made  use  of  every  bit  of  information  that 
could  possibly  be  acquired.  He  read  the  Northern  papers 
systematically.  And,  on  learning  that  McClellan  was  su 
perseded,  he  is  said  to  have  expressed  with  much  humor 
the  difficulty  of  his  task :  "I  am  sorry  to  part  with 
McClellan.  We  understood  one  another  so  well."  While 
he  remarked  to  a  Northern  general  after  the  war  :  "  You 
people  changed  your  commanders  in  front  of  me  so 
frequently  that  it  was  no  small  labor  to  study  them 
and  it  was  a  work  constantly  to  be  renewed."  69 

In  short,  what  impresses  me  perhaps  more  than  any 
thing  else  in  Lee's  purely  military  success  is  the  splendid 
triumph  of  intelligence,  of  brains,  and  I  do  not  find  any 
really  more  satisfying  eulogy  than  Henderson's  simple 


LEE  AS  A  GENERAL  195 

phrase,  "He  was  the  clearest-sighted  soldier  in  Amer 
ica."  70 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say,  however,  that  't  is  not 
Lee's  excellence  as  a  general  that  has  led  me  to  these 
extensive  studies  of  his  life.  Modest  as  he  was,  if  it  had 
not  been  for  the  necessities  of  war,  he  might  have  left 
no  mark  on  the  history  of  his  country.  But  the  mark  he 
has  left  is  far  deeper  and  more  permanent  than  a  merely 
military  one.  Perhaps  he  is  as  often  compared  with  Well 
ington  as  with  any  other  great  leader.  Wellington  loved 
his  country  and  saved  England.  Yet  Lord  Roberts  says 
of  him,  "  That  he  was  honest,  straightforward,  resolute, 
and  patriotic,  none  can  deny ;  but  there  appears  to  be 
no  instance  in  his  military  career  of  his  adopting  a  course 
where  his  duty  was  opposed  to  his  own  interest." 71  How 
different  is  the  record  of  Lee !  Emerson  says  of  Napo 
leon  :  "  His  soldiers  called  him  Cent  Mille.  Add  honesty 
to  him  and  they  might  have  called  him  hundred  million." 
To  military  qualities  not  unlike  Napoleon's  how  much 
did  Lee  add  besides  honesty  1 


IX 

LEE'S  SOCIAL  AND  DOMESTIC  LIFE 

THERE  is  a  curious  conflict  of  testimony  about  Lee's 
manner  in  general  society.  Was  he  cold  and  distant? 
Was  he  genial,  merry,  cordial,  and  ready  to  meet  others 
in  an  open,  confiding  spirit?  Pendleton,  writing  of  old 
West  Point  days,  tries,  with  the  ingenuity  of  a  biographer, 
to  reconcile  the  two  points  of  view  :  "  There  was  always 
about  him  a  dignity  which  repelled  improper  familiarity, 
and  yet  a  genial  courtesy  and  joyous  humor,  often  pass 
ing  into  and  creating  delightful  merriment,  that  rendered 
him  a  charming  companion.  .  .  .  The  possessor  of  these 
excellences  could  not  but  be  a  universal  favorite.  No 
other  feeling  toward  him  was  ever  experienced,  I  be 
lieve,  by  any  one  of  his  several  hundred  fellow  students 
from  all  parts  of  the  United  States."  1  On  the  other  hand, 
Charles  Anderson,  who  knew  him  before  the  war,  speaks 
of  his  "  grave,  cold  dignity  of  bearing  and  the  prudent 
reserve  of  his  manners  which  rather  chilled  over-early  or 
over-much  intercourse," 2  and  Grant,  from  acquaintance 
in  Mexico,  says  that  he  was  "  a  large,  austere  man  and, 
I  judge,  difficult  of  approach  to  his  subordinates."  3 

All  this  evidence — in  fact  all  the  evidence  —  comes 
from  decided  friends  or  enemies,  speaking  in  view  of 
Lee's  later  glory.  I  have  sought  in  vain  for  an  illuminat- 


MRS.    ROBERT   E.   LEE 


LEE'S  SOCIAL  AND   DOMESTIC   LIFE     197 

ing  word  written  in  the  thirties.  The  wonderful  charm 
which  so  impressed  Pendleton  and  others,  as  they  looked 
back,  does  not  seem  to  have  forced  contemporaries  to 
report  it.  In  the  war  period  Mrs.  Chesnut,  an  admirer, 
but  a  shrewd,  keen  woman,  gives  us  a  glimpse  which  is 
well  worth  noting:  "All  the  same,  I  like  Smith  Lee 
better,  and  I  like  his  looks  too.  I  know  Smith  Lee  well. 
Can  anybody  say  they  know  his  brother?  I  doubt  it. 
He  looks  so  cold,  quiet,  and  grand."  4  Long,  in  disput 
ing  Grant's  opinion  of  his  great  adversary,  says  that  he 
was  not  austere,  but  that  "  he  was  clothed  with  a  natural 
dignity  which  could  either  repel  or  invite,  as  occasion 
might  require," 5  and  that  he  had  "  that  just  degree  of 
reserve  that  suited  his  high  and  responsible  position." 6 
Here  we  have  an  interesting  clue.  I  imagine  that  Lee 
had  the  reserve  before  he  had  the  responsible  position, 
that  in  the  early  days  he  held  a  little  aloof,  not  in  the 
least  from  haughtiness,  but  rather  from  the  unwillingness 
of  a  deep,  strong  nature  to  yield  itself  too  readily.  As 
grandeur  came  upon  him,  he  did  not  change  his  man 
ner  in  the  least,  but  what  had  before  seemed  coldness, 
seemed  now  dignity,  and  the  austerity  of  the  lieutenant 
appeared  only  a  proper  self-respect  in  the  commanding 
general. 

In  other  words,  he  was  not,  in  the  expressive  slang  of 
to-day,  "  a  good  mixer."  He  did  not  smoke,  he  did  not 
drink,  and  his  attitude  toward  smoking  and  drinking 
shows  that  he  hardly  cared  for  the  social  exhilaration 


198  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

they  bring  with  them.  Mrs.  Davis  deduces  from  his  play 
ful  remark,  "  'My  cups  in  camp  are  thicker,  but  this  is 
thinner  than  the  coffee/  the  intense  realization  that  he 
had  of  the  coarse  ways  and  uncomfortable  concomitants 
of  a  camp." 7  But  this  is  Mrs.  Davis,  not  Lee.  I  think 
that,  either  by  nature  or  by  stoical  self-discipline,  he 
liked  work,  and  cared  little  for  the  lighter  pursuits  of 
life,  liked  the  soldier's  hardships,  the  soldier's  toil,  even 
the  soldier's  fare,  as  well  as  the  soldier's  glory.  "  He 
rarely  relaxed  his  energy  in  anything  calculated  to 
amuse  him,"  says  one  of  his  biographers,  "but,  when 
not  riding  along  his  lines,  or  among  the  camps,  to  see  in 
person  that  the  troops  were  properly  cared  for,  gener 
ally  passed  his  time  in  close  attention  to  official  duties."  8 

Yet  we  know  that  he  cherished  to  the  full  all  the  large 
traditions  of  Virginia  hospitality.  Whenever  he  mingled 
with  his  fellows  in  social  relations,  there  was,  at  any  rate 
in  later  years,  a  sweet,  spontaneous  courtesy  about  him, 
a  ready  tact,  a  kindly  interest  and  sympathy,  which 
won  the  affection  of  every  one.  "  Could  anybody  know 
him?"  asks  Mrs.  Chesnut.  Perhaps  not  But  people 
could  and  did  love  him. 

Women  seem  to  have  attracted  him  much  and  he  had 
a  singular  charm  for  them.  If  he  had  love  affairs  in  his 
youth,  they  have  escaped  record.  He  was  young  when 
he  married  Miss  Custis,  he  was  much  younger  when  he 
fell  in  love  with  her.  She  made  him  a  most  worthy  and 
devoted  wife  and  no  shade  of  any  other  affection  seems 


LEE'S  SOCIAL  AND   DOMESTIC   LIFE     199 

ever  to  have  interfered  between  them.  Nevertheless, 
from  youth  to  age,  Lee  loved  a  pretty  girl,  loved  to  chat 
with  her,  and  jest  with  her,  and  write  her  gay  trifles  even 
in  the  midst  of  war.  "Fond  of  the  company  of  ladies," 
says  one  of  his  officers,  "he  had  a  good  memory  for 
pretty  girls.  .  .  .  While  in  Savannah  and  calling  on  my 
father,  one  of  my  sisters  sang  for  him.  Afterwards,  in 
Virginia,  almost  as  soon  as  he  saw  me,  he  asked  after 
his  '  little  singing  bird.' " 9  His  letters  to  his  daughters-in- 
law  have  a  peculiar  grace,  vivacity,  and  charm.  In  the 
midwinter  of  1863,  with  a  load  of  care  upon  him  that 
would  have  crushed  most  men,  he  finds  time  to  write  to 
a  girl,  of  other  girls,  in  this  gay  and  sprightly  fashion : 
"  I  caught  glimpses  of  sweet  Carrie,  but  she  was  so  sur 
rounded  by  her  little  beaux  that  little  could  be  got  from 
her.  But  there  was  one  tall  one  with  her,  a  signalman  of 
that  voracious  family  of  Randolphs,  whom  I  threatened 
with  Castle  Thunder.  I  did  not  see  her  look  at  Rob  once. 
But  you  know  he  is  to  take  her  home  on  certain  condi 
tions.  I  hope  your  mother  has  given  her  consent  and 
that  the  cakes  are  baking.  I  also  saw  happy  Mrs.  Ada. 
Her  face  was  luminous  with  content  and  she  looked  as 
if  she  thought  there  was  but  one  person  in  the  world."  10 
And  it  was  not  only  the  pretty  girls ;  Lee  had,  in 
its  finest  form,  that  Old-World  courtesy  and  chivalry, 
honoring  a  woman  as  a  woman,  which  it  is  something 
the  fashion  to  sneer  at  now,  perhaps  because  so  many 
women  are  bent  on  considering  themselves  as  men.  In 


200  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

the  very  height  of  the  war,  when  the  general  was  incon- 
testably  the  most  prominent  man  in  the  South,  it  was 
noted  that  he  was  the  first  to  rise  in  a  crowded  car 
and  offer  his  seat  to  a  lady.11  During  the  last  desperate 
movement  to  Appomattox  one  woman,  the  wife  of  Dr. 
Guild,  the  surgeon,  accompanied  the  headquarters  of 
the  army.  Even  in  that  crisis  Mrs.  Guild  says  that  the 
general  "  would  come  to  my  ambulance  early  in  the 
morning  with  a  cup  of  coffee,  depriving  himself  for 
the  only  woman  who  was  on  that  sorrowful,  hopeless 
march."  12 

The  letter  above  quoted  shows  that  Lee's  dignity  and 
gravity  did  not  prevent  him  from  making  and  enjoying 
a  jest.  He  had  not,  indeed,  Lincoln's  wild  inspiration 
of  the  comic  spirit ;  but  he  had  a  twinkle  of  quiet  fun, 
which  made  social  life  more  gay  and  toil  more  easy. 
"  He  was  not  exactly  witty,  nor  was  he  very  humorous, 
though  he  gave  a  light  turn  to  table  talk,  and  enjoyed 
exceedingly  any  pleasantry  or  fun  even.  He  often  made 
a  quaint  or  slightly  caustic  remark,  but  he  took  care 
that  it  should  not  be  too  trenchant."  13 

One  would  not  suspect  him  of  practical  jokes,  yet  it 
is  recorded  that  in  the  early  days  he  rode  double  down 
Pennsylvania  Avenue  past  the  White  House  and  a  Sec 
retary  of  the  Treasury  gaping  with  astonishment.14  He 
loved  to  tease  his  young  officers,  one  day  assembling 
them  all  for  a  social  treat  around  a  most  promising 
demijohn,  from  which  he  finally  drew  bumpers  of  his 


LEE'S  SOCIAL  AND   DOMESTIC   LIFE    201 

favorite  stimulant  —  buttermilk;15  another  sending  an 
aide  at  a  grand  review  to  "  tell  a  young  lady  that  such 
and  such  a  battery  was  coming."  "  I  rode  up,"  says  the 
officer,  "  and  saluted  the  young  lady.  There  was  great 
surprise  shown  by  the  entire  party,  as  I  was  not  known 
to  any  of  them,  and  when  I  came  out  with  my  message, 
there  was  a  universal  shout,  while  the  general  looked  on 
with  a  merry  twinkle  in  his  eye."  16 

The  same  turn  of  gentle  raillery  was  often  given  to 
much  more  serious  matters,  as  when  some  one  wrote 
that  a  stolen  Bible  was  in  possession  of  a  Northern  lady 
and  Lee  answered  that  if  she  made  the  use  of  it  he  hoped 
she  would,  it  would  before  long  be  restored  to  its  right 
ful  owner. 

Finally,  Lee  was  by  no  means  deficient  in  that  most 
useful  function  of  humor,  the  gift  of  laughing  at  one's 
self.  "  You  know  she  is  like  her  papa,"  he  writes  of  one 
of  his  daughters,  —  "always  wanting  something."  17  And 
to  Mrs.  Chesnut  he  defined  his  wants.  "  He  remonstrated 
and  said  his  tastes  '  were  of  the  simplest.'  He  only 
wanted  '  a  Virginia  farm,  no  end  of  cream,  fresh  butter, 
and  fried  chicken,  —  not  one  fried  chicken,  or  two,  but 
unlimited  fried  chicken.'  "  18  It  takes  a  considerable 
sense  of  the  comic  to  laugh  at  those  who  find  one's 
social  manner  charming.  "  Last  night,"  writes  Lee, 
"  there  was  a  cadet  hop.  Night  before,  a  party  at  Colo 
nel  Johnston's.  The  night  preceding,  a  college  conversa 
zione  at  your  mother's.  .  .  .  You  know  how  agreeable 


J 

202  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

I  am  on  such  occasions,  but  on  this,  I  am  told,  I  sur 
passed  myself."  19 

The  same  gracious  and  quiet  courtesy  which  distin 
guished  Lee  in  the  lighter  forms  of  social  intercourse 
was  also  unfailingly  apparent  in  all  business  transac 
tions.  "  General  Lee  had  but  one  manner  in  his  inter 
course  with  men.  It  was  the  same  to  the  peasant  as  to 
the  prince,  and  the  student  was  received  with  the  same 
easy  courtesy  that  would  have  been  bestowed  on  the 
greatest  imperial  dignitary  of  Europe."  20  Note,  however, 
that  in  such  cases  the  manner  almost  always  is  a  manner 
and  that  the  man  who  has  it  rarely  gives  himself. 

The  substance  of  too  much  of  our  conversation,  per 
haps  of  the  most  brilliant  part  of  it,  is  the  faults  and 
follies  of  our  neighbors.  Lack  of  this  high  seasoning 
may  have  made  Lee  less  calculated  to  shine  in  general 
society.  "  It  can  always  be  said  of  him  that  he  was  never 
heard  to  speak  disparagingly  of  any  one,  and  when  any 
one  was  heard  so  to  speak  in  his  presence,  he  would  al 
ways  recall  some  trait  of  excellence  in  the  absent  one."  21 
On  the  other  hand,  what  charms  us  most  in  talk  is 
that  some  one  older,  wiser,  whom  we  admire  and  respect, 
should  defer  to  our  opinions,  as  if  they  were  really  worth 
something.  It  appears  that  this  attractive  quality  Lee 
had  in  the  highest  degree,  and  that  in  him  it  was  not 
only  tact,  not  only  courtesy,  but  real  humility  by  which 
the  charm  is  always  doubled.  One  of  his  subordinates 
in  the  college,  during  the  years  after  the  war,  writes, 


LEE'S  SOCIAL  AND   DOMESTIC   LIFE    203 

"  We  all  thoughtf  he  deferred  entirely  too  much  to  the 
expression  of  opinion  on  the  part  of  the  faculty,  when 
we  would  have  preferred  that  he  should  simply  indicate 
his  own  views  or  desire."  22  This  is  surely  an  interesting 
trait  in  a  great  and  successful  general  and  it  shows  in 
Lee's  military  as  well  as  in  his  civil  relations.  When  he 
crossed  the  Potomac  in  June,  1863,  he  said  to  a  mere 
staff  officer,  "  What  do  you  think  should  be  our  treat 
ment  of  the  people  in  Pennsylvania  ?  "  23 

Respect  for  the  opinions  of  one's  friends  and  sympathy 
with  all  of  them  naturally  breed  the  desire  to  reconcile 
them  when  they  jar.  Here  lay  one  of  the  greatest  secrets 
of  Lee's  value  to  his  country.  Even  in  the  early  days  in 
Mexico  it  was  said  of  him  :  "  I  remember  nothing  special 
in  those  visits  except  his  desire  to  heal  the  differences 
between  General  Scott  and  some  of  his  subordinate  offi 
cers  and  the  efforts  he  was  making  in  that  direction,  about 
which  he  conversed  with  me.  He  was  a  peacemaker  by 
nature."  24  Could  there  be  a  nobler  eulogy  for  a  mighty 
man  of  war  ? 

So  much  for  Lee's  relations  with  the  world  at  large. 
Had  he  near  and  intimate  friends?  To  return  to  Mrs. 
Chesnut.  "Could  anybody  say  they  knew  him ?"  With 
her  I  am  inclined  to  answer,  "  I  doubt  it."  It  is  true  that 
Davis  said,  "  He  was  my  friend"  ;  but  Davis  was  a  master 
of  figures  of  speech.  That  Lee  loved  many  men,  I  know, 
that  he  gave  them  kindness  and  sympathy  in  unstinted 
measure,  sometimes  speaking  in  terms  of  glowing  warmth 


204  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

and  tenderness,  as  when  he  wrote  to  Beauregard,  after 
Bull  Run,  "  I  cannot  express  the  joy  I  feel  at  the  brilliant 
victory  of  the  2ist.  The  skill,  courage,  and  endurance 
displayed  by  yourself  and  others  excite  my  highest  ad 
miration  ;  " 2b  and  to  Joseph  E.  Johnston  on  the  same  occa 
sion,  "  I  almost  wept  with  joy  at  the  glorious  victory 
achieved  by  our  brave  troops.  The  feelings  of  my  heart 
could  hardly  be  repressed  on  learning  the  brilliant  share 
you  had  in  the  achievement." 26  Nevertheless,  I  find  no 
word  to  indicate  that  he  ever  gave  himself. 

Of  all  the  friendships  that  he  had,  that  with  J.  E.  John 
ston  is  undoubtedly  the  most  interesting.  They  were 
the  two  foremost  generals  of  the  Confederacy,  rivals  in 
position,  rivals  in  power,  rivals  in  the  affection  of  their 
soldiers,  far  unequal  only  in  the  support  and  favor  of 
their  government.  But  in  spite  of  all  that  tended  to  es 
trange  them,  they  seem  to  have  cherished  to  the  end 
an  affection  which,  if  we  are  to  believe  one  who  knew 
them  well,  made  them  "meet  after  separation  with  the 
demonstrativeness  of  two  schoolboys."  27  A  knowledge 
of  the  character  of  each  lends  a  double  charm  to  the 
beautiful  words  written  by  Johnston  after  his  friend's 
death  :  "  We  had  the  same  associates,  who  thought,  as  I 
did,  that  no  other  youth  or  man  so  united  the  qualities 
that  win  warm  friendship  and  command  respect.  For  he 
was  full  of  sympathy  and  kindness,  genial,  and  fond  of 
gay  conversation  and  even  of  fun,  that  made  him  the 
most  agreeable  of  companions,  while  his  correctness  of 


LEE'S  SOCIAL  AND   DOMESTIC   LIFE    205 

demeanor  and  language  and  attention  to  all  duties,  both 
personal  and  official,  and  a  dignity  as  much  a  part  of 
himself  as  the  elegance  of  his  person,  gave  him  a  super 
iority  that  every  one  acknowledged  in  his  heart."  28 

Johnston  follows  this  eulogy  with  a  curious  comment : 
"  He  was  the  only  one  of  all  the  men  I  have  known  who 
could  laugh  at  the  faults  and  follies  of  his  friends  in  such 
a  manner  as  to  make  them  ashamed  without  touching 
their  affection."  Surely  this  is  a  rare  tribute,  rarely  de 
served,  still  more  rarely  bestowed.  Is  it  ever  deserved  ? 
Can  any  man  laugh  at  our  faults  and  follies  and  not  touch 
our  affection  a  little?  Without  accepting  entirely  the  cyn 
ical  French  saying,  "  Ce  sont  nos  faiblesses  qui  nous  font 
des  amis,  et  non  pas  nos  vertus,"  it  is  permitted  to  doubt 
whether  friendship  in  all  its  comfortable  ease,  its  large, 
unbuttoned  relaxation,  would  be  quite  possible  with  one 
who  was  too  ready  to  play  the  mentor,  felt  bound  to  play 
it,  even  under  a  smile. 

There  are  one  or  two  anecdotes  of  Lee,  many  in  fact, 
but  one  or  two  especially,  full  of  the  most  fascinating 
significance,  when  read  in  connection  with  this  remark  of 
Johnston's.  In  his  very  early  youth  Lee  went  to  visit  an 
old  friend  who  lived  in  the  ample,  careless  style  of  Vir 
ginia  hospitality,  hunting  by  day  and  drinking  by  night, 
with  an  idle  dissipation  which  the  earnest  boy  could  not 
approve.  "The  old  man  shrunk  before  the  unspoken 
rebuke  of  the  youthful  hero.  Coming  to  his  bedside  the 
night  before  his  departure,  he  lamented  the  idle  and  use- 


206  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

less  life  into  which  he  had  fallen,  excusing  himself  upon 
the  score  of  loneliness,  and  the  sorrow  which  weighed 
upon  him  in  the  loss  of  those  most  dear.  In  the  most  im 
pressive  manner  he  besought  his  young  guest  to  be 
warned  by  his  example  ;  prayed  him  to  cherish  the  good 
habits  he  had  already  acquired,  and  promised  to  listen  to 
his  entreaties  that  he  would  change  his  own  life,  and  thereby 
secure  more  entirely  his  respect  and  affection"  (italics 
mine).29  I  read  this,  and  even  allowing  for  the  biogra 
pher's  embroidery,  I  say  to  myself  that  Lee  was  remark 
able  in  other  ways  besides  being  commander  of  the  Army 
of  Northern  Virginia. 

Let  us  take  another  incident  showing  not  the  bio 
grapher's  point  of  view,  but  the  friend's  who  got  the 
rebuke.  It  bears  very  closely  on  my  doubts  as  to  the 
intimacy  of  Lee's  friendships.  General  Wise  had  damned 
an  intruding  civilian  out  of  camp.  A  few  days  after,  Lee 
visited  Wise,  made  himself  delightfully  agreeable  at 
dinner  to  Mrs.  Wise  and  other  ladies  who  happened  to 
be  there,  and  then  suggested  to  his  subordinate  that 
they  should  take  a  walk  together :  "  I  knew  what  was 
coming,"  said  Wise,  narrating  the  story.  "  After  telling 
me  of  the  complaint  made  of  my  treatment  of  the  Rich 
mond  man,  and  hearing  my  account  of  the  affair,  not 
omitting  the  apology  and  broadside,  he  laid  his  hand 
upon  my  arm,  and  with  that  graceful  cordiality,  which,  at 
such  times,  tempered  his  stately  dignity,  he  said,  *  Wise, 
you  know  as  well  as  I  do  what  the  army  regulations  say 


LEE'S  SOCIAL  AND   DOMESTIC   LIFE    207 

about  profanity.  As  an  old  friend,  let  me  ask  you  if  that 
dreadful  habit  cannot  be  broken  —  and  remind  you  that 
we  have  both  passed  the  meridian  of  life,  etc.'  Seeing 
that  he  was  in  for  a  sermon,  and  one  that  I  could  not 
answer,  I  replied,  '  General  Lee,  you  certainly  play  the 
part  of  Washington  to  perfection,  and  your  whole  life 
is  a  constant  reproach  to  me.  Now,  I  am  perfectly  will 
ing  that  Jackson  and  yourself  shall  do  the  praying  for  the 
whole  Army  of  Northern  Virginia,  but,  in  Heaven's  name, 
let  me  do  the  cussin'  for  one  small  brigade.'  Lee  laughed 
and  said,  'Wise,  you  are  incorrigible,'  and  then  rejoined 
the  ladies."30  "The  only  man,"  writes  Johnston,  "the 
only  man."  And  again  I  say  to  myself,  "  Ce  sont  nos 
faiblesses  qui  nous  font  des  amis,  et  non  pas  nos  vertus." 
But  let  us  get  still  closer  to  Lee  in  his  home.  As  to 
his  dealings  with  those  who  were  subordinate  to  him 
here,  what  record  there  is  is  favorable.  The  few  slaves 
whom  he  himself  inherited,  he  disposed  of  long  before 
the  war.  Those  who  came  into  his  charge  by  Mr.  Custis's 
will,  under  stipulation  of  manumission  at  a  fixed  date,  he 
took  the  most  watchful  care  of  till  the  appointed  time 
arrived  and  then  set  free.  In  the  thickest  of  his  military 
duties  he  writes  to  his  son  with  deep  concern  as  to  their 
welfare :  "As  regards  Lean  the  and  Jim,  I  presume  they 
had  better  remain  with  Mrs.  D.  this  year,  and  at  the  end  of 
it  devote  their  earnings  to  their  own  benefit.  But  what  can 
be  done  with  poor  little  Jim  ?  It  would  be  cruel  to  turn  him 
out  on  the  world.  He  could  not  take  care  of  himself."  81 


208  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

At  the  same  time,  it  is  curious  to  observe  how  the 
general  curse  of  slavery  could  involve  even  a  man  like 
Lee  in  slander  and  reproach.  A  correspondent  writes  to 
the  "  New  York  Tribune,"  on  June  24,  1859,  saying  that 
three  slaves,  two  men  and  a  woman,  escaped  from  Lee's 
plantation,  had  been  captured  and  brought  back.  "  Colo 
nel  Lee  ordered  them  whipped.  The  officer  whipped  the 
men  and  said  he  would  not  whip  the  woman,  and  Colo 
nel  Lee  stripped  her  and  whipped  her  himself.  These  are 
facts,  as  I  learn  from  near  relatives  of  the  men  whipped." 
We  who  know  Lee's  character  know  that  they  are  not 
facts,  and  hardly  require  the  indignant  repudiation  of 
another  correspondent  (June  28),  who  writes  as  an  op 
ponent  of  slavery,  but  with  a  thorough  knowledge  of 
the  Lees,  and  shows  not  only  the  injustice  of  the  attack, 
but  its  probable  motive.  But  such  things  cannot  have 
been  agreeable. 

Lee's  own  reference  to  this  affair,  in  a  letter  to  his  son, 
is,  "  I  do  not  know  that  you  have  been  told  that  George 
Wesley  and  Mary  Norris  absconded  some  months  ago, 
were  captured  in  Maryland,  making  their  way  to  Penn 
sylvania,  brought  back,  and  are  now  hired  out  in  lower 
Virginia.  .  .  .  The  *  New  York  Tribune '  has  attacked 
me  for  my  treatment  of  your  grandfather's  slaves,  but  I 
shall  not  reply.  He  has  left  me  an  unpleasant  legacy."  32 

Writing  to  a  Western  correspondent,  after  the  war, 
Lee  makes  a  still  more  explicit  statement,  doubtless  in 
this  same  connection:  "I  am  very  much  obliged  to  you 


LEE'S  SOCIAL   AND   DOMESTIC   LIFE    209 

for  your  bold  defense  of  me  in  the  New  York  papers,  at 
a  time  when  many  were  willing  to  believe  any  enormity 
charged  against  me.  This  same  slander,  which  you  at 
the  time  denounced  as  false,  was  nevertheless  circulated 
at  the  North,  and  since  the  termination  of  hostilities  has 
been  renewed  in  Europe.  Yet  there  is  not  a  word  of  truth 
in  it,  or  any  ground  for  its  origin.  No  servant,  soldier, 
or  citizen,  that  was  ever  employed  by  me,  can  with  truth 
charge  me  with  bad  treatment." 33 

In  the  more  personal  domestic  relations  also  Lee  ap 
pears  to  advantage.  Of  his  father  he  saw  little ;  but  his 
devotion  to  his  mother  is  as  attractive  in  its  delicacy  and 
tact  as  in  its  completeness.  Even  in  his  early  years  she 
was  a  great  invalid  and  he  tended  her  as  a  woman  might 
have  done,  "  carrying  her  in  his  arms  to  the  carriage, 
and  arranging  her  cushions  with  the  gentleness  of  an 
experienced  nurse."  34  As  he  drove  with  her,  he  would 
make  every  effort  to  entertain  her,  ''assuring  her  with 
the  gravity  of  an  old  man  that  unless  she  was  cheerful, 
the  drive  would  not  benefit  her.  When  she  complained 
of  cold  or  drafts,  he  would  pull  from  his  pocket  a  great 
jack-knife  and  newspaper  and  make  her  laugh  with  his 
efforts  to  improvise  curtains,  and  shut  out  the  intrusive 
wind  which  whistled  through  the  crevices  of  the  old 
family  coach."35  On  his  departure  for  West  Point,  his 
mother  said,  "  How  can  I  live  without  Robert  ?  He  is 
both  son  and  daughter  to  me."  36 

As  a  father,  Lee  is  better  known  to  us  than  in  any  other 


210  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

aspect ;  for  a  very  large  number  of  his  letters  to  his  sons 
and  daughters  has  been  printed.  In  one  of  these  Lee 
himself  remarks :  "  It  has  been  said  that  our  letters  are 
good  representations  of  our  minds.  They  certainly  pre 
sent  a  good  criterion  for  judgment  of  the  character  of 
the  individual.  You  must  be  careful  that  yours  make  as 
favorable  an  impression  of  you  as  I  hope  you  will  de 
serve."  37  It  is  not  fair,  however,  to  judge  Lee's  own  char 
acter  too  much  by  the  tone  of  these  paternal  letters.  A 
man  may  tell  his  near  friends,  with  a  smile,  what  Lee 
once  told  of  his  boy's  following  him  in  the  snow,  imitat 
ing  his  every  movement  and  stepping  exactly  in  his 
footprints.  "  *  When  I  saw  this,'  said  the  general,  '  I  said 
to  myself,  "  It  behooves  me  to  walk  very  straight,  when 
this  fellow  is  already  following  in  my  tracks."  '  "  38  But 
such  a  thing  in  cold  print  sounds  priggish.  We  know  the 
stiltedness  of  Chesterfield's  letters  to  his  son.  Flaubert, 
too,  wrote  pages  of  inspiration  to  Mademoiselle  X,  pages 
of  limitation  to  his  beloved  niece.  It  is  well  to  turn  occa 
sionally  from  some  of  Lee's  letters  to  his  family  to  his 
more  sprightly  correspondence  with  outside  friends  or 
more  distant  relatives. 

These  reserves  as  to  the  paternal  epistolary  relation 
once  accepted,  no  father's  attitude  could  be  finer.  His 
discipline  was  always  steady.  There  was  no  injudicious 
relaxation,  no  spoiling.  "  My  mother  I  could  sometimes 
circumvent,  and  at  times  took  liberties  with  her  orders, 
construing  them  to  suit  myself,"  writes  his  youngest  son ; 


LEE'S  SOCIAL  AND   DOMESTIC   LIFE    211 

"but  exact  obedience  to  every  mandate  of  my  father 
was  a  part  of  my  life  and  being-  at  that  time."  39  In  pub 
lic  and  military  matters  Lee  was  absolutely  stoical  in  his 
avoidance  of  all  family  favoritism.  Foreign  visitors  could 
not  conceal  their  astonishment  at  finding  the  son  of  the 
commander-in-chief  serving  in  the  ranks  as  a  dirty  and 
begrimed  artilleryman.  Another  son  lay  wounded  in  a 
Union  prison ;  his  wife  was  dying  at  home.  A  Union 
officer  imprisoned  in  Richmond  begged  that  a  letter 
might  be  written  to  Lee  asking  him  to  bring  about  an 
exchange.  Lee  wrote  back  that  he  would  not  ask  any 
favor  for  his  own  son  that  could  not  be  asked  for  the 
humblest  soldier  in  the  army.40 

Lee's  letters  to  his  children  are  full  of  advice  and  ad 
monition,  sometimes  more  or  less  conventional,  but  often 
expressed  with  touching  sweetness  and  simplicity.  Good 
evidence  of  this  is  the  fact  that  they  were  counterfeited 
at  a  very  early  date.  One  expects  forged  documents 
after  a  great  man's  death.  But  in  the  middle  of  the  war 
a  letter  was  widely  circulated,  purporting  to  be  from  Lee 
to  one  of  his  sons,  but  in  reality  manufactured  by  a 
clever  newspaper  man  on  a  basis  of  fragments  of  real 
correspondence.  There  is  enough  authentic  material, 
however,  without  resorting  to  forgery,  and  in  this  ma 
terial  there  is  a  passionate  sincerity  of  interest  which  it 
would  be  difficult  to  forge :  "  You  see  I  am  following  my 
old  habit  of  giving  advice,  which  I  dare  say  you  neither 
need  nor  require.  But  you  must  pardon  a  fault  which 


212  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

proceeds  from  my  great  love  and  burning  desire  for  your 
welfare  and  happiness.  When  I  think  of  your  youth,  im 
pulsiveness,  and  many  temptations,  your  distance  from 
me,  and  the  ease  (and  even  innocence)  with  which  you 
might  commence  an  erroneous  course,  my  heart  quails 
within  me,  and  my  whole  frame  and  being  trembles  at 
the  possible  result.  May  Almighty  God  have  you  in  his 
holy  keeping."  41 

We  see  here  what  there  was  back  of  discipline  and 
advice ;  a  devoted  tenderness,  a  watchful  care  founded 
not  only  on  parental  duty,  but  on  deep  and  abiding  af 
fection.  "  Oh,  what  pleasure  I  lose  in  being  separated 
from  my  children.  Nothing  can  compensate  me  for 
that."  42  "  I  wish  I  could  see  you,"  he  writes  to  his 
daughter,  "  be  with  you,  and  never  again  part  from  you. 
God  only  can  give  me  that  happiness.  I  pray  for  it 
night  and  day."  43  And  elsewhere,  "  I  long  to  see  you 
through  the  dilatory  nights.  At  dawn  when  I  rise,  and 
all  day,  my  thoughts  revert  to  you  in  expressions  that 
you  cannot  hear  or  I  repeat.  I  hope  you  will  always 
appear  to  me  as  you  are  now  painted  on  my  heart."  44 

Nor  was  the  affection  a  matter  of  feeling  only ;  it  was 
constantly  taking  practical  forms  of  care  and  sacrifice. 
Lee  was  a  good  manager,  exact  in  every  detail  of  do 
mestic  economy,  frugal  and  thrifty  in  the  little  affairs  of 
daily  life.  I  like  to  think  of  the  rival  of  Frederick  and 
Napoleon  writing  to  his  son,  four  months  before  Gettys 
burg,  "  If  my  pants  are  done,  will  you  give  them  to  Mr. 


LEE'S  SOCIAL  AND   DOMESTIC   LIFE    213 

Thomas,  the  bearer,  who  will  bring  them  up  to-morrow  ? 
If  they  are  not,  keep  them.  I  am  on  my  last  pair,  and 
very  sensitive,  fearful  of  an  accident."  45  He  cautions  his 
family  repeatedly  as  to  care  in  money  matters :  "  I  wish 
you  to  save  all  your  money,  and  invest  it  in  some  safe 
and  lucrative  way,  that  you  may  have  the  means  to  build 
up  old  Arlington,  and  make  it  all  we  would  wish  to  see  it. 
The  necessity  I  daily  have  for  money  has,  I  fear,  made 
me  parsimonious."  46  But  it  was  that  noble  parsimony, 
which  pinches  self  to  comfort  others  ;  and  page  after  page 
of  Lee's  life  records  his  readiness  in  giving.  All  his  care 
for  Arlington  was  not  for  his  own  possession,  for  the 
place  was  his  son's,  left  him  by  his  mother's  father ;  and 
when  the  son  begged  the  father  to  accept  it,  Lee  refused, 
"  not  from  any  unwillingness  to  receive  from  you  a  gift 
you  may  think  proper  to  bestow,  or  to  be  indebted  to 
you  for  any  benefit  great  or  small.  But  simply  because  it 
would  not  be  right  to  do  so."  47  After  the  war  he  showed 
himself  in  every  way  most  anxious  to  aid  his  sons  in  es 
tablishing  themselves,  and  he  had  that  crowning  grace 
of  giving,  the  abstinence  from  all  dictation  as  to  the  use 
of  the  gift.  "Will  that  suit  you?  If  it  does  not,  let  me 
know  what  will,  and  you  shall  have  that  too."  48  Also, 
he  was  as  indulgent  in  trifles  as  in  farms  and  barns.  One 
Christmas  season  his  youngest,  pet  daughter  "  enumer 
ated,  just  in  fun,  all  the  presents  she  wished  —  a  long 
list.  To  her  great  surprise,  when  Christmas  morning 
came  she  found  each  article  at  her  place  at  the  breakfast 


214  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

table — not  one  omitted."49  One  hardly  knows  which 
to  admire  most,  the  father's  generosity  or  the  daughter's 
simple  desires.  This  was  she  of  whom  her  father  said, 
"  She  is  always  wanting  something."  Apparently,  with 
Lee-like  moderation,  she  did  not  want  much. 

As  this  incident  shows,  Lee  not  only  loved  his  child 
ren,  but  enjoyed  them.  The  two  do  not  always  go  to 
gether  by  any  means.  In  fact,  just  before  the  war  he 
wrote,  "  I  have  no  enjoyment  in  life  but  what  I  derive 
from  my  children."50  And  he  enjoyed  them  in  their 
childishness,  their  sports,  their  gayety.  It  is  true  that  he 
did  not  quite  approve  of  too  much  festivity  in  the  midst 
of  national  disaster.  "There  are  too  many  Lees  on  the 
ball  committee.  I  like  them  all  to  be  present  at  battles, 
but  can  excuse  them  at  balls."  51  Into  all  the  harmless 
home  laughter,  however,  he  was  ready  to  enter  at  any 
time.  He  was  full  of  pleasant  jests  and  kindly  teasing. 
"We  all  enjoyed  that  attention  from  him.  He  never 
teased  any  one  whom  he  did  not  especially  like." 52 
"kKiss  your  sisters  for  me.  Tell  them  they  must  keep 
well,  not  talk  too  much,  and  go  to  bed  early."  53  "  The 
girls  are  well  and  have  as  many  opinions  with  as  few 
acts  as  ever."54  "We  are  all  as  usual  —  the  women  of 
the  family  very  fierce  and  the  men  very  mild."  55 

In  Captain  R.  E.  Lee's  charming  volume,  from  which 
these  natural  touches  are  mainly  drawn,  we  get  many 
pictures  of  the  great  soldier  with  his  children  about  him, 
and  nothing  shows  him  in  a  simpler,  more  attractive,  more 


LEE'S  SOCIAL  AND   DOMESTIC   LIFE    215 

geninely  human  aspect.  "  He  was  very  fond  of  having 
his  hands  tickled,  and,  what  was  still  more  curious,  it 
pleased  and  delighted  him  to  take  off  his  slippers  and 
place  his  feet  in  our  laps  in  order  to  have  them  tickled. 
...  He  would  often  tell  us  the  most  delightful  stories, 
and  then  there  was  no  nodding.  Sometimes,  however, 
our  interest  in  his  wonderful  tales  became  so  engrossing 
that  we  would  forget  to  do  our  duty,  when  he  would  de 
clare,  '  No  tickling,  no  story.'  "  56  Some  persons  may  per 
haps  think  the  hero  of  Chancellorsville  too  dignified  for 
such  unslippered  ease.  But  it  strikes  me  that  this  matter 
of  tickling  reduces  Lee  more  sweetly  than  almost  any 
thing  else  to  the  common  level  of  mortality.  Was  there 
ever  a  more  charming  picture  of  Jove  unparadised  than 
this  drawn  by  a  Virginia  girl  after  the  war  (italics  mine)  ? 
"  I  can  only  remember  the  great  dignity  and  kindness 
of  General  Lee's  bearing,  how  lovely  he  was  to  all  of  us 
girls,  that  he  gave  us  his  photographs  and  wrote  his  name 
on  them.  He  liked  to  have  us  tickle  his  hands,  but  when 
Cousin  Agnes  sat  by  him,  that  seemed  to  be  her  privilege. 
We  regarded  him  with  the  greatest  veneration.  We  had 
heard  of  God,  but  here  was  General  Lee"  57  That  last 
touch  a  great  poet  might  envy. 

In  the  most  intimate  of  all  human  relations  we  natur 
ally  see  Lee  but  very  dimly.  We  know  that  Mrs.  Lee 
was  a  charming  wife  and  mother,  always  careful  of  the 
welfare  of  her  family  and  always  beloved  by  them,  and 
that  her  husband's  devotion  was  unfailing.  Brief  glimpses 


216  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

come  to  us  of  those  little  rubs  which  should  always  pro 
perly  occur  in  the  best  adjusted  wedlock  between  differ 
ing  characters,  and  we  see  that  they  were  taken  in  the 
light,  sweet  spirit  in  which  they  should  be  taken.  "  My 
father,  as  I  remember,  always  in  full  uniform,  always 
ready  and  waiting  for  my  mother,  who  was  generally 
late.  He  would  chide  her  gently,  in  a  playful  way  and 
with  a  bright  smile."  58  "  The  Mim,  the  dear  Mim,  con 
siders  herself  a  great  financier;  consult  her  about  the 
expenditure  of  money,  but  do  not  let  her  take  it  shopping, 
or  you  will  have  to  furnish  her  with  an  equal  amount  to 
complete  her  purchases.  She  has  such  a  fine  eye  for  a  bar 
gain."  59  But  none  of  these  rubs  interfered  with  the  hus 
band's  constant  affection  and  devotion,  as  tender  in  the 
long  years  of  sickness  and  confinement  as  in  the  early 
glow  of  young  love  and  perfect  health.  "  To  my  mother, 
who  was  a  great  invalid  from  rheumatism  for  more  than 
ten  years,  he  was  the  most  faithful  attendant  and  tender 
nurse.  Every  want  of  hers  that  he  could  supply  he  anti 
cipated.  .  .  .  During  the  war  he  constantly  wrote  to  her, 
even  when  on  the  march  and  amidst  the  most  pressing 


Yet  as  I  turn  to  the  limited  number  of  these  letters  that 
have  been  printed,  I  find  in  them  positive  traces  of  the 
same  limitations  I  have  before  noted.  Lee  lectures,  —  oh, 
so  sweetly,  and  so  kindly,  and  so  gently,  —  but  lectures. 
On  his  children  :  "You  must  not  let  him  run  wild  in  my 
absence,  and  will  have  to  exercise  firm  authority  over  all 


LEE'S  SOCIAL  AND   DOMESTIC   LIFE    217 

of  them.  .  .  .  Mildness  and  forbearance,  tempered  by 
firmness  and  judgment,  will  strengthen  their  affection 
for  you,  while  it  will  maintain  your  control  over  them."61 
On  the  care  of  her  own  health :  "  Systematically  pursue 
the  best  course  to  recover  your  lost  health.  ...  Do  not 
worry  yourself  about  things  you  cannot  help,  but  be  con 
tent  to  do  what  you  can  for  the  well-being  of  what  pro 
perly  belongs  to  you.  .  .  .  Lay  nothing  too  much  to 
heart.  Desire  nothing  too  eagerly,  nor  think  that  all 
things  can  be  perfectly  accomplished  according  to  our 
own  notions."  62  This  is  playing  the  r61e  of  Marcus  Au- 
relius,  or,  as  General  Wise  would  say,  of  Washington,  to 
perfection.  But  —  but  —  More  than  ever,  I  am  forced 
to  return  to  Mrs.  Chesnut's  comment,  "Can  anybody  say 
they  know  him  ? " 63 

The  truth  is,  there  are  three  motives  which  lead  us  to 
seek  the  society  of  others.  First,  we  grow  weary  of  our 
selves.  We  wish  to  share  our  joys  and  sorrows,  we  wish 
others  to  help  and  strengthen  us,  above  all,  we  wish  others 
to  fill  the  great  void  which  is  neither  joy  nor  sorrow,  but 
just  the  blank  monotony  of  every  day.  With  most  of  us 
the  motive  of  social  life  is  not  that  you  are  so  charming, 
but  that  I  am  so  dull.  "  Why,"  said  the  wife  of  the  Har 
vard  professor,  "  when  there  is  no  one  else  about,  I  go 
into  the  kitchen  and  talk  to  the  cook."  Lee  did  not  pre 
fer  the  cook's  society  to  Robert  E.  Lee's.  He  could  fill 
his  own  void,  desired  no  help  or  strength  from  others,  or, 
at  least,  none  that  others  could  give  him.  It  is  only  at  the 


218  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

rarest  moments  that  he  expresses  any  sense  of  solitude 
or  loneliness.  "  I  wish  you  were  with  me,  for  always  soli 
tary,  I  am  sometimes  lonely,  and  long  for  the  reunion  of 
my  family  once  again.  But  I  will  not  speak  of  myself  but 
of  you."  64  Note  even  here  the  characteristic  touch  by 
which  he  turns  instantly  from  discussion  of  his  own  affairs 
to  discussion  of  others'. 

The  second  motive  that  leads  us  to  go  out  among 
men  is  but  a  modification  of  the  first,  a  desire  to  lead,  to 
guide  and  manage  and  regulate  the  affairs  of  others. 
This  makes  the  soldier  and  the  statesman.  It  also  makes 
the  petty  village  official  and  the  woman  who  advises  the 
neighborhood,  often  most  kindly  and  usefully.  As  it  hap 
pened,  few  men  have  had  wider  cure  of  souls  and  bodies 
than  fell  to  Lee  and  no  one  can  say  he  shunned  what 
came  to  him.  Yet  I  do  not  think  he  sought  it  or  loved  it. 
I  do  not  think  he  desired  either  public  or  private  respon 
sibility.  Certainly  he  had  no  wish  to  dictate  or  control. 
And  few  can  have  been  moved  less  than  he  to  seek  the 
society  of  others  for  the  pleasure  that  comes  from  assert 
ing  our  own  power  over  them. 

There  remains  a  third  social  motive,  kindness,  tender 
ness,  sympathy,  the  sense  of  human  kinship.  And  surely 
in  no  one  was  this  element  at  least  ever  more  present 
than  in  Lee.  Perhaps  its  sweetest  manifestation  was  his 
love  of  children.  In  one  sense  children  ask  everything 
and  give  nothing.  In  another  sense  they  ask  nothing 
and  give  all.  They  ask  all  your  time  and  effort  and 


LEE'S   SOCIAL  AND   DOMESTIC   LIFE    219 

attention.  They  do  not  ask  yourself.  This  suited  Lee 
exactly.  Hence  he  loved  children  —  and  children  loved 
him,  which  is  surely  the  most  flattering  and  conclusive 
evidence  as  to  character.  I  cannot  quote  the  multitude 
of  charming  anecdotes  which  support  me  here.  "  On  one 
occasion  [after  the  war],  calling  at  Colonel  Preston's  he 
missed  two  little  boys  in  the  family  circle,  who  were 
great  favorites  of  his,  and  on  asking  for  them  he  was 
told  that  they  were  confined  to  the  nursery  by  croup. 
The  next  day,  though  the  weather  was  of  the  worst  de 
scription,  he  went  trudging  back  to  their  house,  carrying 
in  one  hand  a  basket  of  pecan  nuts,  and  in  the  other  a 
toy,  which  he  left  for  his  sick  friends."  65  At  another  time 
a  small  girl,  who  had  charge  of  her  baby  sister,  saw  the 
general  come  riding  by.  "  'General  Lee,  won't  you  please 
make  this  child  come  home  to  her  mother  ? '  The  gen 
eral  immediately  rode  over  to  where  Fannie  sat,  leaned 
over  from  his  saddle,  and  drew  her  up  into  his  lap. 
There  she  sat  in  royal  contentment,  and  was  thus  grandly 
escorted  home.  When  Mrs.  Letcher  inquired  of  Jennie 
why  she  had  given  General  Lee  so  much  trouble,  she 
received  the  nai've  reply :  *  I  could  n't  make  Fan  go 
home,  and  I  thought  he  could  do  anything.'  " 66 

With  animals  it  was  something  as  with  children.  Lee 
loved  them  and  they  him.  "  Everybody  and  everything 
—  his  family,  his  friends,  his  horse,  and  his  dog — loves 
Colonel  Lee,"  was  said  of  him  before  the  war.67  His  let 
ters  are  full  of  tender  and  humorous  allusions  to  his  cats 


220  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

and  his  horses.  In  his  last  years  the  old  war-horse,  Tra 
veler,  seemed  to  be  almost  as  near  to  him  as  any  living 
thing.  "  General  Lee  was  more  demonstrative  toward 
that  old  companion  in  battle  than  seemed  to  be  in  his 
nature  in  his  intercourse  with  men,  I  have  often  seen 
him,  as  he  would  enter  his  front  gate,  leave  the  walk, 
approach  the  old  horse  and  caress  him  for  a  minute  or 
two  before  entering  his  front  door,  as  though  they  bore 
a  common  grief  in  their  memory  of  the  past." 68  And 
Lee  himself  admits  the  same  thing.  "Traveler  is  my 
only  companion  ;  I  may  also  say  my  only  pleasure.  He 
and  I,  whenever  practicable,  wander  out  in  the  moun 
tains  and  enjoy  sweet  confidence."  69 

What  was  the  nature  of  that  confidence  ?  Among  the 
vast  regrets  for  a  lost  cause  and  a  nation  ruined,  did 
Lee  also  wish  at  moments  that  there  was  some  human 
soul  to  which  he  could  really  unburden  himself?  "All 
are  gay,  and  only  I  solitary.  I  am  all  alone."70  "You 
must  make  friends  while  you  are  young,  that  you  may 
enjoy  them  when  old.  You  will  find  when  you  become 
old,  it  will  then  be  too  late.  I  see  my  own  delinquencies 
now  when  too  late  to  mend,  and  point  them  out  to  you, 
that  you  may  avoid  them."  71  Were  these  only  the  slight 
expressions  of  a  temporary  lack,  or  were  they  the  true 
outcry  of  a  longing  for  something  never  attained,  per 
haps  impossible  ?  We  do  not  know.  Lee  had,  however, 
one  intimate  friend,  —  God.  But  that  requires  a  separate 
chapter. 


X 

LEE'S  SPIRITUAL  LIFE 

LEE  had,  of  course,  a  liberal  education,  though  we  do 
not  know  much  of  his  early  studies.  Those  pursued  at 
West  Point  were  largely  technical ;  but  before  going  to 
that  institution  he  must  have  had  a  good  grounding  in 
the  classics,  for  long  after,  when  he  was  president  of 
Washington  College,  he  used  to  visit  the  Greek  classes 
and  astonish  the  students  by  his  familiarity  with  that 
language.  His  general  ideas  as  to  educational  matters 
were  both  broad  and  solid.  During  his  college  presi 
dency,  while  sustaining  as  far  as  possible  the  old  tradi 
tions  of  culture,  he  seems  to  have  taken  decided  steps  in 
modern  directions,  —  that  is,  towards  practical  training 
and  individual  development, — steps  which  meant  far 
more  in  the  South  than  in  the  North.  "Nothing,"  he 
wrote  after  the  war,  "  will  compensate  us  for  the  depres 
sion  of  the  standard  of  our  moral  and  intellectual  cul 
ture."  1  And  again,  "The  education  of  a  man  or  woman 
is  never  completed  till  they  die."  2 

If  Lee  had  written  his  proposed  memoirs,  we  should 
be  better  able  to  judge  whether  he  had  literary  gifts.  As 
it  is,  his  only  bit  of  formal  writing  is  the  brief  sketch  pre 
fixed  to  his  father's  "  Memoirs."  Here,  as  in  so  many 
other  matters,  we  see  curiously  the  inheritance  of  the 


222  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

eighteenth  century,  its  dignified  finish,  its  determination 
to  clothe  even  common  things  in  lofty  phraseology.  The 
elder  Lee  takes  cold  because  "  a  slight,  but  driving  snow 
which  was  falling,  insinuated  itself  among  the  wrappings 
encircling  his  throat."  3  Where  it  is  more  appropriate, 
this  breadth  of  expression  often  attains  real  beauty  and 
grandeur,  as  in  some  of  the  addresses  and  general  orders 
to  the  army.  "  Soldiers  !  You  tread  with  no  unequal  step 
the  road  by  which  your  fathers  marched  through  suffer 
ings,  privations,  and  blood  to  independence.  Continue 
to  emulate,  in  the  future,  as  you  have  in  the  past,  their 
valor  in  arms,  their  patient  endurance  of  hardships,  their 
high  resolve  to  be  free,  which  no  trial  could  shake,  no 
bribe  seduce,  no  danger  appall,  and  be  assured  the  just 
God  who  crowned  their  efforts  with  success  will,  in  His 
own  good  time,  send  down  his  blessing  upon  yours."4 

The  reports,  and  especially  the  dispatches  written  in 
the  field,  contain  no  such  literary  effort.  They  are  terse, 
and  clear,  saying  what  is  needed  and  only  what  is  needed. 
The  familiar  letters  are  less  successful  as  mere  writing. 
They  are  loose  and  hasty  and  not  always  correct  in 
grammar  and  syntax.  They  are  charming,  however,  so 
far  as  they  show  the  intimate  character  of  the  man. 

In  spite  of  his  deep  respect  for  education,  I  do  not  find 
that  Lee  had  any  great  love  for  books  or  for  things  purely 
intellectual.  In  later  years  he  expressed  "  his  lifelong  re 
gret  that  he  had  not  completed  his  classical  education 
(in  which,  however,  he  had  a  respectable  scholarship) 


LEE'S  SPIRITUAL  LIFE  223 

before  going  to  West  Point "  ; 5  and  he  thanks  Worsley 
for  the  translation  of  the  "  Odyssey  "  in  terms  which  in 
dicate  pleasure  in  the  perusal  of  the  original.  Judge 
Tyler  tells  us  that  he  could  talk  "  in  the  most  interesting 
manner  about  the  beauty  of  the  tongue  and  the  richness 
of  the  literature  of  Spain."  6  Among  English  authors  he 
is  said  to  have  been  partial  to  Macaulay,  especially  the 
essays,  which  can  hardly  be  considered  the  sign  of  a 
literary  temperament,  and  in  writing  of  his  father  he  once 
quotes  Burke.  But  it  is  really  remarkable  that  in  so  varied 
and  extensive  a  correspondence  there  should  be  so  little 
reference  to  literature,  even  in  its  historical  aspects.  This 
seems  the  more  curious  when  we  turn  to  the  letters  of 
Harry  Lee,  —  surely  as  much  a  man  of  action  as  his  son, 
—  and  find  a  spirit  keenly  alive  to  literary  questions, 
ready  to  criticize  Racine  and  to  delight  in  Sophocles. 

So  with  science.  In  Lee's  army  the  soldiers  discussed 
Darwin  and  concluded  that  "Marse  Robert"  was  suf 
ficient  proof  that  man  was  not  descended  from  apes.  But 
I  find  no  evidence  that  Lee  himself  ever  gave  a  thought 
to  the  vast  speculations  that  were  unhinging  the  world. 
Perhaps  it  is  worth  while  to  refer  in  this  connection  to 
Mrs.  Putnam's  shrewd  remark  that  the  Southern  slave- 
holding  planter  was  almost  obliged  in  self-defense  to 
adopt  this  attitude  towards  all  modern  thought. 

Even  as  to  his  profession  there  is  no  record  of  Lee's 
making  it  a  passionate  study.  He  stood  well  at  West 
Point,  and  results  would  certainly  indicate  that  he  did 


224  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

more.  But  nothing  is  said  of  his  ever  spending  feverish 
days  and  nights,  as  did  Jackson,  over  the  campaigns  of 
Frederick  and  the  battles  of  Napoleon. 

Nor  do  I  see  that  he  was  in  any  way  sensitive  to 
aesthetic  pleasures.  While  one  child  assiduously  tickled 
his  toes  and  another  narrated  the  story  of  the  "  Lady  of 
the  Lake,"  he  would  occasionally  break  in  with  the  re 
citation  of  long  passages  of  the  poem,  disconcerting  the 
narratress  and  boring  the  tickler.  This  shows  that  he 
liked  the  poetry  of  Scott.  (Mark  Twain,  by  the  way,  be 
lieved  that  Scott's  false  chivalry  was  largely  responsible 
for  the  Civil  War.)  But  of  other  poetry  no  mention  and 
no  trace.  I  do  not  remember  that  the  name  of  Shake 
speare  occurs  once  in  all  he  wrote.  Novels  he  disap 
proved  of,  as  many  of  us  do  — for  others.  "  Read  history, 
works  of  truth,  not  novels  and  romances.  Get  correct 
views  of  life,  and  learn  to  see  the  world  in  its  true  light. 
It  will  enable  you  to  live  pleasantly,  to  do  good,  and, 
when  summoned  away,  to  leave  without  regret."  7  The 
world  would,  indeed,  be  much  less  regrettable,  if  there 
were  no  novels  in  it.  With  painting  and  with  music  it  is 
as  with  poetry.  Lee  may  have  enjoyed  such  things,  but 
he  makes  no  mention  of  his  enjoyment. 

The  nineteenth  century  had  one  aesthetic  delight  pecu 
liarly  its  own,  appreciation  of  the  beauty  of  nature. 
This  seems  to  have  made  somewhat  more  appeal  to  Lee ; 
yet  even  here  his  language  certainly  gives  no  indication 
of  ecstasy.  A  quiet  Virginia  farm  life,  in  the  fields  and 


LEE'S  SPIRITUAL  LIFE  225 

woods  rather  than  in  cities,  pleased  him  best  —  that  is 
all.  "  You  do  not  know  how  much  I  have  missed  you 
and  the  children,  my  dear  Mary.  To  be  alone  in  a  crowd 
is  very  solitary.  In  the  woods  I  feel  sympathy  with  the 
trees  and  birds,  in  whose  company  I  take  delight,  but 
experience  no  pleasure  in  a  strange  crowd." 8  "  I  enjoyed 
the  mountains  as  I  rode  along.  The  views  are  magni 
ficent  and  the  valleys  so  beautiful,  the  scenery  so  peace 
ful.  What  a  glorious  world  Almighty  God  has  given  us. 
How  thankless  and  ungrateful  we  are,  and  how  we  labor 
to  mar  his  gifts." 9 

In  short,  the  bent  of  Lee's  character  was  absolutely 
moral  and  practical.  It  is  not  to  be  inferred  from  this, 
however,  that  he  was  a  man  of  no  passions  or  that  his 
staid  decorum  resulted  from  a  lack  of  sensibility.  We 
have  seen  that  Longstreet  thought  his  weakness  as  a 
general  was  an  excessive  fury  of  combat.  At  any  rate, 
there  is  plenty  of  evidence  that  he  had  a  good  hot  tem 
per,  which  came  to  the  surface  on  provocation.  Colonel 
Venable,  of  his  staff,  says  :  "  No  man  could  see  the  flush 
come  over  that  grand  forehead  and  the  temple  veins 
swell  on  occasions  of  great  trial  of  patience  and  doubt 
that  Lee  had  the  high,  strong  temper  of  a  Washington." 10 
He  disliked  very  much  to  have  officers  with  a  grievance 
allowed  to  make  their  way  to  him.  At  times  this  would 
happen.  Immediately  after  one  such  occurrence,  "  Gen 
eral  Lee  came  to  the  adjutant's  tent  with  flushed  face, 
and  said  warmly,  'Why  did  you  permit  that  man  to 


226  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

come  to  my  tent  and  make  me  show  my  temper  ? '  "  n 
In  the  same  way  he  had  a  great  dislike  to  "  reviewing 
army  communications  "  and  his  aides  spared  him  when 
they  could.  On  one  occasion  Colonel  Taylor  had  made 
matters  as  easy  as  possible;  but  the  general  "  was  not  in 
a  very  pleasant  mood ;  something  irritated  him  and  he 
manifested  his  ill-humor  by  a  little  nervous  twist  or  jerk 
of  the  neck  and  head,  accompanied  by  some  harshness 
of  manner."  Taylor  became  impatient  and  showed  it ; 
whereupon  the  general  said,  "  Colonel  Taylor,  when  I 
lose  my  temper,  don't  let  it  make  you  angry."  12 

It  is  a  curious  coincidence  that  one  of  Lee's  few  vio 
lent  explosions  of  wrath  occurred  when  he  found  an  ar 
tilleryman  brutally  abusing  a  horse  and  that  one  of  the 
rare  recorded  outbreaks  of  Grant  was  owing  to  the  same 
cause.  Apropos  of  Grant  also,  Lee  is  said  to  have  once 
spoken  sharply  after  the  war,  though  not  in  the  connec 
tion  we  should  expect.  One  of  his  university  faculty  had 
been  criticizing  the  Union  general  with  some  harshness. 
"Sir,"  said  Lee,  "if  you  ever  presume  again  to  speak 
disrespectfully  of  General  Grant  in  my  presence,  either 
you  or  I  will  sever  his  connection  with  this  university."  13 

A  particularly  interesting  example  of  Lee's  indigna 
tion,  because  we  see  it,  as  it  were,  bursting  forth  and 
passing  at  once  under  control,  is  his  reference  to  the 
desecration  of  Arlington :  "  Your  old  home,  if  not  de 
stroyed  by  our  enemies,  has  been  so  desecrated  that  I 
cannot  bear  to  think  of  it.  I  should  have  preferred  it  to 


LEE'S  SPIRITUAL  LIFE  227 

have  been  wiped  from  the  earth,  its  beautiful  hill  sunk, 
and  its  sacred  trees  buried,  rather  than  to  have  been 
degraded  by  those  who  revel  in  the  ill  they  do  for  their 
own  selfish  purposes.  You  see  what  a  poor  sinner  I  am, 
and  how  unworthy  to  possess  what  was  given  me ;  for 
that  reason  it  has  been  taken  away."  14 

It  was  by  considerations  of  this  nature  that  Lee  domin 
ated  his  passions  and  secured  the  high  temperance  and 
triumphant  control  which  were  among  his  most  marked 
characteristics.  His  temperance,  however,  was  no  less  a 
spiritual  grace  than  a  moral  victory.  Here  again  the  re 
semblance  to  Grant  is  striking.  Every  one  knows  Grant's 
quiet  remark  when  some  one  prefaced  a  dubious  story 
with  the  familiar  "I  believe  there  are  no  ladies  present"  : 
"  No,  but  there  are  gentlemen."  It  is  said  of  Lee  also, 
"  I  dare  say  no  man  ever  offered  to  relate  a  story  of  ques 
tionable  delicacy  in  his  presence.  His  very  bearing  and 
presence  produced  an  atmosphere  of  purity  that  would 
have  repelled  the  attempt."  15 

Evidence  of  Lee's  supreme  self-control  in  other  direc 
tions  is  hardly  needed.  The  final  disaster,  surely  as  over 
whelming  as  could  befall  a  man,  hardly  broke  his  calm 
or  wrung  from  him  a  complaint  except  for  others.  In 
good  and  evil  fortune  alike  he  strove  to  maintain  the 
same  stoical  —  or  no,  I  should  say,  as  he  would  have 
wished,  Christian  —  fortitude.  A  striking  instance  of  this 
is  narrated  by  Taylor.  Doubtless  it  could  be  paralleled 
in  many  other  lives.  Something  similar  is  told  of  Stuart, 


228  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

of  Cox  on  the  Union  side,  and  may  remain  untold  of 
many  a  private  soldier  in  the  armies  of  the  Potomac  and 
of  Northern  Virginia.  It  is  none  the  less  noble  and  beau 
tiful  in  Lee.  The  general  had  just  received  and  read  his 
mail,  when  Colonel  Taylor  appeared  with  the  usual  list 
of  matters  of  army  routine  as  to  which  the  commander's 
judgment  was  desired.  "  The  papers  containing  a  few 
such  cases  were  presented  to  him ;  he  reviewed  and  gave 
his  orders  in  regard  to  them.  I  then  left  him,  but  for 
some  cause  returned  in  a  few  moments,  and  with  accus 
tomed  freedom  entered  his  tent  without  announcement 
or  ceremony,  when  I  was  startled  and  shocked  to  see 
him  overcome  with  grief,  an  open  letter  on  his  knees. 
That  letter  contained  the  sad  intelligence  of  his  daugh 
ter's  death.  .  .  .  His  army  demanded  his  first  thought 
and  care ;  to  his  men,  to  their  needs,  he  must  first 
attend ;  and  then  he  could  surrender  himself  to  his  pri 
vate,  personal  affliction." 16 

The  force  of  will  which  appeared  as  self-control  in 
great  matters  showed  in  little  as  exactness,  system,  ac 
curacy.  It  is  said  that  in  his  youth  his  mother  taught 
him  rigid  economy ;  and  throughout  life  he  continued 
to  exercise  it.  He  was  as  scrupulously  punctual  as  Wash 
ington,  for  himself  and  for  others.  When  young  men 
called  on  his  daughters,  he  began  his  locking  up  exactly 
at  ten  o'clock  and  the  callers  were  expected  to  conform.17 
A  member  of  his  faculty  once  came  to  his  office  and 
asked  for  a  certain  paper.  Lee  told  him  where  it  could 


LEE'S  SPIRITUAL  LIFE  229 

be  found.  Afterwards  he  said  to  him,  "  Did  you  find  the 
paper?"  "Yes,  General."  "  Did  you  return  it  to  the 
place  where  you  found  it  ?  "  "  Yes,  General."  18  Mrs.  Lee 
said  of  her  husband  that  "  he  could  go,  in  the  dark,  and 
lay  his  hand  on  any  article  of  his  clothing,  or  upon  any 
particular  paper,  after  he  had  once  arranged  them."  19 

This  minuteness  seems  to  have  been  inborn.  At  any 
rate  it  appeared  in  early  youth.  "  His  specialty  was  fin 
ishing  up.  ...  He  drew  the  diagrams  on  a  slate ;  and 
although  he  well  knew  that  the  one  he  was  drawing 
would  have  to  be  removed  to  make  room  for  another, 
he  drew  each  one  with  as  much  accuracy  and  finish,  let 
tering  and  all,  as  if  it  were  to  be  engraved  or  printed."  20 
The  biographer  quotes  this  as  an  admirable  trait ;  but 
I  have  my  doubts.  A  high  authority  has  said,  "  Never 
finish  a  thing  after  it  is  done."  And  I  am  inclined  to 
think  that  a  prime  attribute  of  greatness  is  disregarding 
the  unnecessary.  In  commanding  the  Army  of  Northern 
Virginia  for  three  years  Lee  must  have  sacrificed  a  world 
of  intellectual  if  not  moral  scruples,  and  it  is  the  more 
remarkable  in  him,  since — like  Jackson,  if  in  less  degree 
—  he  certainly  had  the  germs  of  what  is  sarcastically 
termed  the  New  England  conscience.  Imagine  Crom 
well  or  Napoleon,  shortly  after  such  a  battle  as  Gettys 
burg,  writing  the  following :  "  I  have  been  much  exer 
cised  as  to  how  I  can  pay  my  taxes.  I  have  looked  out 
for  assessors  and  gatherers  in  vain.  I  have  sent  to  find 
collectors  in  the  counties  where  I  have  been,  without 


230  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

success.  I  wish  to  pay  the  amount  as  a  matter  of  right 
and  conscience,  and  for  the  benefit  of  the  State,  but  can 
not  accomplish  it.  ...  In  addition,  I  own  three  horses, 
a  watch,  my  apparel,  and  camp  equipage.  .  .  .  See  if 
you  can  find  some  one  that  can  enlighten  me  as  to  what 
I  am  to  pay."  21 

The  same  self-control,  precision,  economy  of  resource 
marked  Lee  in  speech  as  in  other  things.  There  is  no 
abandon  in  his  letters,  no  freedom,  no  outpouring ;  and 
this  unquestionably  makes  them  somewhat  colorless.  So 
with  his  reports.  He  avoids  the  first  person,  wherever 
possible,  and  says,  "  It  was  decided,"  "  It  was  thought 
best,"  How  different  this  from  the  vivacity  of  Hooker 
or  Sherman.  Very  rarely  does  he  use  brusque  expres 
sions,  "  It  may  be  only  a  Yankee  trick"  ; 22  or  criticize  his 
opponents  freely :  "  His  [Grant's]  talent  and  strategy  con 
sists  in  accumulating  overwhelming  numbers."  23  Even 
his  recorded  conversations  contain  little  that  seems  like 
unrestrained  confidence.  Thus,  one  is  startled  when  one 
finds  him  supposed  to  have  said,  "  I  have  never  under 
stood  why  General  Sherman  has  been  commended  for 
that  march,  when  the  only  question  was  whether  he 
could  feed  his  army  by  consuming  all  the  people  had  to 
eat "  ; 24  and  the  tone  of  his  remarks  to  Badeau  is  even 
more  unusual :  "  He  spoke  very  bitterly  of  the  course  of 
England  and  France  during  the  war  and  said  that  the 
South  had  as  much  cause  to  resent  it  as  the  North ;  that 
England  especially  had  acted  from  no  regard  to  either 


LEE'S  SPIRITUAL  LIFE  231 

portion  of  the  Union,  but  from  a  jealousy  of  the  united 
nation  and  a  desire  to  see  it  fall  to  pieces.  England,  he 
said,  had  led  the  South  to  believe  she  would  assist  them, 
and  then  deserted  them  when  they  most  needed  aid."  25 

Bancroft  speaks  admirably  of  "  the  wonderful  power 
of  secrecy  of  Washington  in  which  he  excelled  even 
Franklin ;  for  Franklin  sometimes  left  the  impression 
that  he  knew  more  than  he  was  willing  to  utter,  but 
Washington  seemed  to  have  said  all  that  the  occasion 
required."  26  Lee,  I  think,  resembled  Washington  in  this 
and  had  an  excellent  faculty,  when  he  was  interrogated, 
of  seeming  to  say  much  and  saying  little.  Thus  he  an 
swered  a  question  about  McClellan,  "  I  have  always 
entertained  a  high  opinion  of  his  capacity,  and  have  no 
reason  to  think  that  he  omitted  to  do  anything  that  was 
in  his  power."  27  And  when  one  of  his  officers  tried  to 
draw  him  out  by  speaking  somewhat  freely  about  an 
other,  Lee  answered,  "  Well,  sir,  if  that  is  your  opinion 

of  General ,  I  can  only  say  that  you  differ  very 

widely  from  the  general  himself."  28 

Reserve  of  this  character  is  always  liable  to  be  misin 
terpreted,  and  so  we  get  what  foundation  there  is  for 
Badeau's  charge  of  duplicity.  His  complaint  of  this  in 
reference  to  Lee's  reports  seems  rather  absurd,  for  the 
unhappy  necessities  of  war  always  involve  some  depart 
ure  from  candor  if  not  from  veracity.  But  Badeau  also 
criticizes  Lee's  last  correspondence  with  Grant,  probably 
read  and  reread  as  much  as  any  letters  ever  written  in 


232  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

the  world.  To  accuse  Lee  of  intentional  deception  in  any 
of  these  is  preposterous ;  but  the  letter  especially  singled 
out  by  Badeau,  that  of  April  8,  1865,  is  certainly  not 
direct,  simple,  and  straightforward,  any  more  than  is  the 
other  important  letter  in  which  Lee  discusses  Jackson's 
share  in  the  tactics  of  Chancellorsville. 

So  far  as  Lee's  reserve  is  concerned,  however,  it  must 
not  in  anyway  be  attributed  to  haughtiness  or  aristocratic 
superiority.  It  is  true  that  he,  like  Washington,  found  it 
difficult  to  throw  off  his  dignity,  to  mingle  freely  with 
his  fellows  in  common  intercourse ;  but  there  never  was 
a  man  who  believed  more  heartily  in  American  liberty, 
in  the  absolute  equality  of  all  men  before  the  law  and  be 
fore  God,  who  would  have  more  entirely  accepted  Mr. 
H.  D.  Sedgwick's  noble  definition  of  democracy  —  noble 
especially  because  it  levels  by  exalting  instead  of  lower 
ing  :  "  The  fundamental  truth  of  democracy  is  the  belief 
that  the  real  pleasures  of  life  are  increased  by  shar 
ing  them."  29  Lee  hated  parade,  display,  and  ceremony, 
hated  above  all  things  being  made  an  object  of  public 
gaze  and  adulation.  His  idea  of  high  position  was  high 
responsibility,  a  superior  was  one  who  had  larger  duties 
as  well  as  larger  privileges,  and  the  mark  of  a  gentleman 
was  a  keen  sense  of  the  feelings  and  susceptibilities  of 
others. 

This  attitude  has  rarely  been  expressed  more  delicately 
than  by  Lee  himself  in  a  memorandum  found  among  his 
papers  after  his  death  (italics  mine) :  "  The  forbearing  use 


LEE'S  SPIRITUAL  LIFE  233 

of  power  does  not  only  form  a  touchstone,  but  the  manner 
in  which  an  individual  enjoys  certain  advantages  over 
others  is  a  test  of  a  true  gentleman.  The  power  which 
the  strong  have  over  the  weak,  the  magistrate  over  the 
citizen,  the  employer  over  the  employed,  the  educated 
over  the  unlettered,  the  experienced  over  the  confiding, 
even  the  clever  over  the  silly  —  the  forbearing  or  inof 
fensive  use  of  all  this  power  or  authority,  or  a  total 
abstinence  from  it  when  the  case  admits  it,  will  show  the 
gentleman  in  a  plain  light.  The  gentleman  does  not 
needlessly  and  unnecessarily  remind  an  offender  of  a 
wrong  he  may  have  committed  against  him.  He  can  not 
only  forgive,  he  can  forget ;  and  he  strives  for  that  noble 
ness  of  self  and  mildness  of  character  which  impart  suf 
ficient  strength  to  let  the  past  be  but  the  past.  A  true  man 
of  honor  feels  humbled  himself  when  he  cannot  help  hum 
bling  others"  30  It  reminds  one  of  Dekker's 

"  First  true  gentleman  that  ever  breathed." 

The  thing  that  puzzles  me,  as  it  has  doubtless  puzzled 
many,  is  how  much  personal  ambition  had  Lee  under  this 
august  reserve,  this  firm  moderation,  this  constant  sacri 
fice  of  self  to  duty.  What  led  him  into  the  army  first  ? 
He  is  reported  to  have  said  in  later  years :  "  The  great 
mistake  of  my  life  was  taking  a  military  education."  31 
Why  did  he  make  that  mistake  ?  Was  it  merely  the  de 
sire  to  follow  his  father's  profession  ?  Had  he  a  love  of 
adventure  and  excitement?  Did  he  —  like  Jackson  —  in 
his  early  days  cherish  dreams  of  distant  glory?  Glimpses 


234  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

of  such  a  passion  may  be  caught  in  Washington's  youth 
ful  letters.  I  find  no  trace  of  it  in  Lee's.  When  his  friends 
display  anxiety  for  his  advancement,  he  discourages 
them.  "  I  hope  my  friends  will  give  themselves  no  an 
noyance  on  my  account,  or  any  concern  about  the  distri 
bution  of  favors.  I  know  how  those  things  are  awarded 
at  Washington,  and  how  the  President  will  be  besieged 
by  clamorous  claimants,  I  do  not  wish  to  be  numbered 
among  them."  32  And  again  :  "  Do  not  give  yourself  any 
anxiety  about  the  appointment  of  the  brigadier.  If  it  is 
on  my  account  that  you  feel  an  interest  in  it,  I  beg  that 
you  will  discard  it  from  your  thoughts."  33 

By  the  time  the  Civil  War  came,  this  indifference  to 
honors  had  grown  to  be  a  fixed  habit.  No  one  can  doubt 
the  sincerity  of  Lee's  repeated  expressions  of  willingness 
to  serve  in  any  capacity  where  he  could  be  useful.  It  is 
said  that  when  Virginia  first  joined  the  Confederacy,  he 
made  arrangements  to  enlist  as  a  private  in  a  company 
of  cavalry.34  Later  he  observed  to  a  restless  subordinate, 
"  What  do  you  care  about  rank  ?  I  would  serve  under  a 
corporal  if  necessary." 35  And  to  Davis  he  wrote,  after 
Gettysburg :  "I  am  as  willing  to  serve  now  as  in  the  be 
ginning  in  any  capacity  and  at  any  post  where  I  can  do 
good.  The  lower  in  position,  the  more  suited  to  my  ability 
and  the  more  agreeable  to  my  feelings."  36 

But  there  is  a  harder  test  of  self-sacrifice  in  these  mat 
ters  than  even  the  willingness  to  forego  rank ;  and  that 
is  patience  under  criticism.  Here,  too,  Lee  is  conspicu- 


LEE'S  SPIRITUAL  LIFE  235 

ous.  To  be  sure,  Grant  asserts  that  his  great  rival  was 
not  criticized.  Less  than  some  others,  perhaps,  but 
enough.  And  I  think  his  immunity  from  it  was  partly 
due  to  the  temper  in  which  it  was  received.  One  of  the 
finest  passages  in  all  his  letters  relates  to  this.  "My 
whole  time  is  occupied,  and  all  my  thoughts  and  strength 
are  given  to  the  cause  to  which  my  life,  be  it  long  or 
short,  will  be  devoted.  Tell  her  not  to  mind  the  reports 
she  sees  in  the  papers.  They  are  made  to  injure  and 
occasion  distrust.  Those  that  know  me  will  not  believe 
them.  Those  that  do  not  will  not  care  for  them.  I  laugh 
at  them."  37  And  laughing  at  them,  in  his  own  sunny, 
kindly  fashion,  he  told  B.  H.  Hill  that  the  great  mistake 
of  the  war  was  in  making  all  the  best  generals  editors  of 
newspapers.  "  I  am  willing  to  serve  in  any  capacity  to 
which  the  authorities  may  assign  me.  I  have  done  the 
best  I  could  in  the  field  and  have  not  succeeded  as  I  could 
wish.  I  am  willing  to  yield  my  place  to  these  best  generals, 
and  I  will  do  my  best  for  the  cause  editing  a  newsaper." 38 
The  more  widely  one  reads  in  the  literature  of  the  war, 
the  more  one  appreciates  the  greatness  of  Lee's  indiffer 
ence  to  glory,  his  absolute  freedom  from  jealousy  and 
self-justification.  Doubtless  there  were  other  eminent 
examples  of  this  on  both  sides ;  but  one  grows  heartsick 
over  the  petty  disputes,  the  ignominious  wrangling  which 
identifies  a  grand  cause  with  a  little  man.  In  many  cases 
injured  merit  is  only  trying  to  get  its  rights  and  perhaps 
does  not  deserve  blame.  But  here  is  precisely  the  hard- 


236  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

est  lesson  of  all.  To  abstain  from  justifying  one's  self  at 
the  expense  of  others  when  one  is  wrong  is  not  always 
easy.  To  abstain  when  one  feels  one's  self  to  have  been 
right  —  that  is  the  labor  and  the  difficulty  indeed.  Even 
in  this  Lee  succeeded,  when  so  many  failed. 

As  to  his  love  of  adventure  and  excitement,  we  have 
seen  in  a  previous  chapter  how  rarely  it  appears.  Beside 
the  significant  Fredericksburg  phrase,  "It  is  well  that 
war  is  so  terrible,  or  else  we  might  grow  too  fond  of  it," 
I  like  to  put  the  quiet  words,  written  after  the  war  and 
very  different  from  what  we  should  expect  from  a  soldier 
homesick  for  far-off  battle  and  glory,  "I  much  enjoy 
the  charms  of  civil  life."  39  Altogether,  a  man  to  whom 
the  ambitions  of  this  world  meant  very  little.  Yet  it  was 
f  he  who  wrote  of  his  daughter,  "She  is  like  her  papa  — 
f  always  wanting  something."  I  wonder  what  he  wanted. 

It  is  said  that  Darwin  confessed  that  all  he  required 
for  happiness  in  life  was  his  scientific  pursuits  and  the 
family  affections.  It  might  equally  well  be  said  that 
all  Lee  needed  was  the  family  affections  and  religion. 
And  now,  what  about  his  religion  ? 

Assuredly  it  was  not  a  religion  of  sect.  It  was  broad 
enough  to  go  even  beyond  the  bounds  of  Christianity 
and  recognize  earnestness  of  intention  in  those  of  a  dif 
ferent  creed  altogether.  "  An  application  of  a  Jew  soldier 
for  permission  to  attend  certain  ceremonies  of  his  syna 
gogue  in  Richmond  was  indorsed  by  his  captain :  '  Dis 
approved.  If  such  applications  were  granted,  the  whole 


LEE'S  SPIRITUAL  LIFE  237 

army  would  turn  Jews  or  shaking  Quakers.'  When  the 
paper  came  to  General  Lee,  he  indorsed  on  it,  'Ap 
proved,  and  respectfully  returned  to  Captain ,  with 

the  advice  that  he  should  always  respect  the  religious 
views  and  feelings  of  others.'  " 40  Lee  was  an  Episcopal 
ian,  but  he  had  no  narrow  belief  in  the  power  of  rituals 
or  formulas.  One  of  his  friendly  enemies,  General  Hunt, 
records  that  at  the  time  of  the  excitement  over  Puseyism, 
efforts  were  made  in  the  parish  to  which  Lee  belonged 
to  enlist  him  on  one  side  or  the  other  of  the  contro 
versy.  He  resisted  these  steadily,  and  on  some  public 
occasion,  when  the  appeals  were  urgent,  he  remarked 
audibly  to  Hunt :  "  I  am  glad  to  see  that  you  keep  aloof 
from  the  dispute  that  is  disturbing  our  little  parish.  That 
is  right  and  we  must  not  get  mixed  up  in  it ;  we  must 
support  each  other  in  that.  But  I  must  give  you  some 
advice  about  it,  in  order  that  we  may  understand  each 
other :  Beware  of  Pussyism !  Pussyism  is  always  bad, 
and  may  lead  to  unchristian  feeling ;  therefore  beware 
of  Pussyism ! "  41  He  seems  to  have  had  ready  always 
in  controversy,  whether  religious  or  military,  some  pleas 
ant  turn  of  this  kind,  which  assuaged  bitterness  and 
broadened  bigotry.  Thus,  when  a  lady  once  complained 
to  him  that  little  Lenten  food  —  fish,  oysters,  etc.,  —  was 

obtainable  in  Lexington,  he  said  to  her,  "  Mrs. ,  I 

would  not  trouble  myself  about  special  dishes  ;  I  suppose 
if  we  try  to  abstain  from  special  sins,  that  is  all  that  will 
be  expected  of  us."  42 


238  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

Nor  was  Lee's  religion  a  matter  of  dogma  or  theology. 
Some  speculative  doubts  appear,  indeed,  to  have  beset 
him  in  his  earlier  years,  and  it  is  extremely  curious  to 
find  the  shadow  of  Unitarianism  hinted  at  by  one  of  his 
devout  biographers  as  keeping  him  for  a  long  time  from 
the  church  (italics  mine):  " Although  at  that  time,  and 
for  a  score  of  years  thereafter,  his  estimate  of  his  own 
unworthiness,  and  some  mistaken  views  of  Christ,  per 
haps,  prevented  his  making  an  avowal  of  the  Christian 
faith  and  becoming  a  communicant  of  the  church,  he 
was,  nevertheless,  all  the  while  guided  and  restrained  by 
belief  in  the  Bible,  reverence  for  its  Author  as  revealed 
therein,  reliance  more  or  less  implicit  upon  the  Saviour, 
and  prayer  secret,  but  sincere." 43  When  once  these  dif 
ficulties  were  overcome,  his  acceptance  seems  to  have 
been  complete  and  unquestioning.  He  liked  sermons  to 
be  simple  and  practical.  "  It  was  a  noble  sermon,  one 
of  the  best  I  ever  heard — and  the  beauty  of  it  was  that 
the  preacher  gave  our  young  men  the  very  marrow  of 
the  Gospel."  44  He  liked  prayers  to  be  brief  and  to  the 

point.    "  You  know   our  friend is   accustomed  to 

make  his  prayers  too  long.  He  prays  for  the  Jews,  the 
Turks,  the  heathen,  the  Chinese,  and  everybody  else, 
and  makes  his  prayers  run  into  the  regular  hour  for  our 
college  recitations.  Would  it  be  wrong  for  me  to  sug 
gest  to  Mr.—  -  that  he  confine  his  morning  prayers  to 
us  poor  sinners  at  the  college,  and  pray  for  the  Turks, 
the  Jews,  the  Chinese,  and  the  other  heathens  some  other 


LEE'S  SPIRITUAL  LIFE  239 

time  ?  "  45  He  avoided  the  discussion  of  speculative  points, 
whenever  possible.  Some  one  asked  him  once  whether 
he  believed  in  the  apostolic  succession.  He  said  he  had 
never  thought  of  it,  and  on  another,  similar  occasion, 
"  I  never  trouble  myself  about  such  questions ;  my  chief 
concern  is  to  try  to  be  a  humble,  sincere  Christian  my 
self."  46 

That  humility  is  the  key  to  this  as  to  many  other  prob 
lems  in  Lee's  character  is  indisputable,  a  genuine  humility. 
Others  might  explain  the  universe  and  probe  the  mys 
teries  of  God.  Surely  he  need  not.  Indeed,  it  is  recorded 
that  he  was  reluctant  to  commit  himself  on  any  general 
matter  of  intellectual  interest.  "  He  studiously  avoided 
giving  opinions  upon  subjects  which  it  had  not  been  his 
calling  or  training  to  investigate ;  and  sometimes  I 
thought  he  carried  this  great  virtue  too  far."  47  Too  far, 
perhaps.  But  there  are  so  many  in  these  days,  in  all 
days,  who  do  not  carry  it  far  enough.  I  think  it  is  this 
entire  and  unconscious  hujcaility  of  Lee's  that  saves  him 
more  than  anything  else  from  the  wild  doings  of  some 
of  his  biographers.  He  has  no  thought  of  his  own  excel 
lences,  nor  of  intruding  them  upon  us.  No  one  would 
have  shrunk  more  than  he  from  being  held  up  as  a 
model  of  perfection. 

Even  in  military  affairs,  where  he  knew  his  ground, 
the  humility  is  always  obvious.  "  I  could  not  have  done 

fx^^___       "     !  •/ 

as  welt  as  has  been  done,  but  I  could  have  helped  and 
taken  part  in  a  struggle  for  my  home  and  neighbor- 


240  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

hood.  So  the  work  is  done,  I  care  not  by  whom  it  is 
done."  48  But  in  matters  of  the  soul  the  great  warrior's 
self-abasement  is  as  touching  as  it  is  manifestly  sincere. 
"  As  we  were  about  to  leave  his  tent,  Mr.  Lacy  said  :  'I 
think  it  is  right  that  I  should  say  to  you,  General,  that 
the  chaplains  of  the  army  have  a  deep  interest  in  your 
welfare  and  some  of  the  most  fervent  prayers  we  offer 
are  in  your  behalf.'  The  old  hero's  face  flushed,  tears 
started  in  his  eyes,  and  he  replied  with  choked  utterance 
and  deep  emotion :  '  Please  thank  them  for  that,  sir  —  I 
warmly  appreciate  it.  And  I  can  only  say  that  I  am  noth 
ing  but  a  poor  sinner,  trusting  in  Christ  for  salvation, 
and  need  all  of  the  prayers  they  can  offer  for  me.'  "  49 

Lee's  religion  was,  therefore,  mainly  practical.  He  was 
most  devout  and  constant  in  all  religious  observances, 
though  his  son  does  not  conceal  a  human  propensity  to 
slumber  during  sermon  time.  He  was  ardent  in  worship 
both  pnvate  and  public.  Such  a  curious  religious  democ 
racy  as  prevailed  in  his  army  has  probably  not  been  seen 
in  the  world  since  the  days  of  Cromwell.  On  one  occasion 
he  was  hurrying  with  his  staff  to  battle.  The  firing  had  be 
gun  and  the  shells  were  flying.  But  the  cavalcade  hap 
pened  to  pass  a  camp  meeting  where  some  ragged  veteran 
was  holding  forth  in  prayer.  At  once  the  commander-in- 
chief  dismounted  and  he  and  all  his  officers,  with  bared 
heads,  reverently  took  part  in  the  simple  worship.50  Again, 
as  the  army  was  being  moved  rapidly  across  the  James  in 
1864  to  meet  Grant  at  Petersburg,  Lee,  with  a  thousand 


LEE'S  SPIRITUAL  LIFE  241 

cares  and  duties  on  his  shoulders,  turned  out  from  the 
road  and  knelt  in  the  dust  beside  a  minister,  to  ask  for 
guidance  and  blessing. 51 

All  that  I  have  written  of  Lee  has  indeed  been  written 
in  vain,  if  it  is  necessary  to  point  out  that  his  religion 
was  practical  not  only  in  form  and  observance  but  in  the 
deeper  touching  and  moulding  of  the  heart.  Perhaps  the 
final  test  of  this  is  utter  and  complete  forgiveness  of 
those  who  have  injured  or  are  trying  to  injure  us,  not 
the  forgiveness  of  the  lips  ("  I  forgive  you  as  a  Chris 
tian,"  said  Rowena ;  "  which  means,"  said  Wamba,  "  that 
she  does  not  forgive  him  at  all "),  but  the  forgiveness  of 
broad  tolerance,  of  perfect  understanding  and  sympathy, 
that  is,  of  love.  After  the  war  a  minister  expressed  him 
self  rather  bitterly  as  to  the  conduct  of  the  North.  "  Doc 
tor/'  said  Lee  to  him,  "there  is  a  good  old  book  which 
says,  '  Love  your  enemies.'  .  .  .  Do  you  think  your  re 
marks  this  evening  were  quite  in  the  spirit  of  that  teach 
ing?"52  On  another  occasion  a  general  exclaimed,  "I 
wish  those  people  were  all  dead  ! "  "  How  can  you  say 
so?"  answered  his  chief.  "  Now,  I  wish  they  were  all  at 
home  attending  to  their  own  business,  and  leaving  us  to 
do  the  same."  53  And  he  summed  up  the  whole  matter 
more  generally:  "I  have  fought  against  the  people  of 
the  North  because  I  believed  they  were  seeking  to  wrest 
from  the  South  dearest  rights.  But  I  have  never  cherished 
bitter  or  vindictive  feelings,  and  have  never  seen  the  day 
when  I  did  not  pray  for  them."  54 


242  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

The  belief  that  "  the  real  pleasures  of  life  are  increased 
by  sharing  them"  certainly  finds  application  more  com 
pletely  in  religion  than  in  anything  else.  No  missionary 
ever  had  more  ardent  zeal  than  Lee  for  bringing  the 
knowledge  of  God  to  all  about  him.  Not  that  he  had 
any  air  of  being  holier  than  others,  of  that  reaching  down 
a  saving  hand  from  vast  heights  of  perfection  which 
evokes  a  perverse  desire  not  to  be  saved.  Here  as  else 
where  his  sweet  humility  averts  any  charge  of  too  aggres 
sive  saintliness.  "  He  one  day  said  to  a  friend  in  speak 
ing  of  the  duty  of  laboring  for  the  good  of  others :  '  Ah, 
Mrs.  P ,  I  find  it  so  hard  to  try  to  keep  one  poor  sin 
ner's  heart  in  the  right  way,  that  it  seems  presumptuous 
to  try  to  help  others.'  "  55  Nevertheless,  one  almost  feels 
as  if  he  cared  more  for  winning  souls  than  battles  and 
for  supplying  his  army  with  Bibles  than  with  bullets  and 
powder.  Even  this  solemn  aspect  of  things  he  could 
color  occasionally  with  the  gentle  sunshine  of  his  humor, 
as  when  he  remarked,  on  hearing  that  many  of  his 
soldiers  were  taking  part  in  a  revival,  "I  am  delighted. 
I  wish  that  all  of  them  would  become  Christians,  for  it  is 
about  all  that  is  left  them  now."  56  But  under  the  smile 
there  was  a  passionate  earnestness  which  appears  not , 
only  in  his  private  talk,  but  in  his  public  orders.  "The 
commanding  general  .  .  .  directs  that  none  but  duties 
strictly  necessary  shall  be  required  to  be  performed  on 
Sunday,  and  that  all  labor,  both  of  men  and  animals, 
which  it  is  practicable  to  anticipate  or  postpone,  or  the 


LEE'S  SPIRITUAL  LIFE  243 

immediate  performance  of  which  is  not  essential  to  the 
safety,  health,  or  comfort  of  the  army,  shall  be  suspended 
on  that  day.  Commanding  officers  .  .  .  will  give  their 
attention  to  the  maintenance  of  order  and  quiet  around 
the  places  of  worship,  and  prohibit  anything  that  may 
tend  to  disturb  or  interrupt  religious  exercises."  57  These 
might  be  general  orders  of  Cromwell  or  of  Moses. 

When  it  came  to  the  guidance  of  the  young  at  Wash 
ington  College  in  later  years,  Lee's  fervor  grew  even 
more  marked.  "  We  had  been  conversing  for  some  time 
respecting  the  religious  welfare  of  the  students.  General 
Lee's  feelings  soon  became  so  intense  that  for  a  time  his 
utterance  was  choked  ;  but,  recovering  himself,  with  his 
eyes  overflowed  with  tears,  his  lips  quivering  with  emo 
tion,  and  both  hands  raised,  he  exclaimed :  '  Oh,  Doctor ! 
if  I  could  only  know  that  all  the  young  men  in  this  col 
lege  were  good  Christians,  I  should  have  nothing  more  to 
desire.'  "  58  You  will  remember  that  this  man  surrendered 
a  great  army  and  saw  a  nation  sink  to  dust  without  a  tear. 

The  central  fact  of  all  religion  is  the  personal  relation 
to  God,  prayer.  And  it  is  here  that  I  have  followed  Lee 
with  the  deepest  interest.  In  our  modern  busy  life  most 
of  us  set  God  so  far  apart  that  we  are  in  danger  of  losing 
sight  of  Him  entirely.  This  springs  in  great  part  from 
reverence.  We  are  afraid  of  soiling  sacred  things  with 
the  dust  of  every  day.  The  mediaeval  Christian  had  no 
such  timidity.  God  was  his  companion,  his  friend,  to  be 
called  on  every  hour,  every  moment,  if  needed.  Go  back 


244  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

two  thousand  years  to  the  sweet,  simple  piety  of  an 
Athenian  gentleman,  Xenophon, — some  call  it  degrad 
ing  superstition,  —  and  see  how  he  summons  the  divine 
to  direct  his  comings  and  goings,  to  cast  down  his  ene 
mies  and  support  his  friends.  Just  so  Lee.  God  gives  the 
victory.  God  permits  the  defeat.  God  sends  rain  to  mire 
the  Virginia  roads.  He  sends  his  sunshine  to  make  them 
passable  again.  If  God  is  appealed  to  passionately 
enough,  devoutly  enough,  humbly  enough,  we  win.  If 
we  lose,  it  is  because  we  have  not  honored  God  suf 
ficiently.  But  —  but  —  what  if  your  cause  is  wrong  and 
the  other  right  ?  What  if  millions  on  the  other  side  are 
praying,  as  honestly,  as  humbly,  as  zealously  as  you  are? 
To  set  out  to  kill,  to  pray  God  to  help  you  kill,  those  who 
are  devoutly  praying  God  to  help  them  kill  you  —  it 
inevitably  recalls  the  eternal  contradiction  put  with  such 
vividness  by  the  poet,  — 

"  For  prayer  the  ocean  is  where  diversely 

Men  steer  their  course,  each  to  a  several  coast; 
Where  all  our  interests  so  discordant  be 

That  half  beg  winds  by  which  the  rest  are  lost."  69 

These  are  old  difficulties,  but  war  always  gives  them 
a  fierce  and  startling  significance.  I  trust  it  will  be  be 
lieved  that  I  do  not  bring  them  up  in  any  spirit  of  mock 
ery.  My  one  interest  is  to  know  what  Lee  thought  of 
them.  Did  he  meet  them?  Did  he  consider  them?  Or 
did  he  put  them  aside  with  the  simple  concreteness  of 
his  practical  temperament  ?  "  I  had  taken  every  precau- 


LEE'S  SPIRITUAL  LIFE  245 

tion  to  insure  success  and  counted  on  it.  But  the  Ruler 
of  the  Universe  willed  otherwise  and  sent  a  storm  to  dis 
concert  a  well-laid  plan,  and  to  destroy  my  hopes."  60 
Does  he  never  ask  why  ?  "  I  hope  we  will  yet  be  able 
to  damage  our  adversaries  when  they  meet  us.  That  it 
should  be  so,  we  must  implore  the  forgiveness  of  God  for 
our  sins,  and  the  continuance  of  his  blessings." 61  Does 
this  never  sound  strange?  Apparently  not.  since  he 
repeats  it  and  repeats  it  with  an  inexhaustible  and,  I  can 
not  help  adding,  an  at  times  exasperating  piety. 

As  to  prayer  on  its  more  spiritual  side,  Lee's  use  of  it 
is  naturally  less  revealed  to  us.  That  a  relation  to  God 
so  constant  and  so  intimate  as  his  should  be  turned  to 
only  for  worldly  advantage  and  material  benefit  is  wholly 
unworthy  of  a  nature  so  finely  touched,  and  we  must 
believe  that  the  sweetest  part  of  his  religion  lay  in  the 
high  rapture  and  forgetfulness  of  spiritual  communion. 
He  was  not  one  to  speak  of  such  experience,  however, 
or  to  write  of  it.  And  we  are  only  told  that  "he  was 
emphatically  a  man  of  prayer  and  was  accustomed  to 
pray  in  his  family  and  to  have  his  seasons  of  secret 
prayer  which  he  allowed  nothing  else  —  however  press 
ing —  to  interrupt";62  and  again,  "I  shall  never  forget 
the  emphasis  with  which  he  grasped  my  hand  as,  with 
voice  and  eye  that  betrayed  deep  emotion,  he  assured 
me  that  it  [knowledge  of  prayer]  was  not  only  his  com 
fort,  but  his  only  comfort,  and  declared  the  simple  and 
absolute  trust  that  he  had  in  God  and  God  alone."  63 


246  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

So  I  think  we  may  conclude  that  the  cardinal  fact  of 
Lee's  life  was  God.  Schleiermacher  said  that  Spinoza 
was  God-intoxicated.  It  would  be  indecorous  to  speak 
of  Lee  as  intoxicated  with  anything.  But  everywhere 
and  always  he  had  God  in  his  heart,  not  so  much  the 
God  of  power,  or  the  God  of  justice,  or  even  the  God  of 
beauty,  but  the  God  of  love,  tempering"  the  austerity  of 
virtue,  sweetening  the  bitterness  of  failure,  above  all, 
breathing  loving  kindness  into  the  intolerable  hell  of 
war.  There  have  been  fierce  saints  who  were  fighters. 
There  have  been  gentle  saints  who  were  martyrs.  It  is 
rare  to  find  a  soldier  making  war  —  stern  war  —  with 
the  pity,  the  tenderness,  the  sympathy  of  a  true  follower 
of  Christ. 


XI 

LEE  AFTER  THE  WAR 

IMMEDIATELY  after  the  surrender  Lee,  a  paroled  prisoner 
of  war,  withdrew  into  private  life  and  took  no  further 
official  part  in  the  affairs  of  his  country.  What  he  per 
sonally  desired,  above  all,  was  rest,  quiet,  solitude.  "  I 
am  looking  for  some  little,  quiet  home  in  the  woods, 
where  I  can  procure  shelter  and  my  daily  bread,  if  per 
mitted  by  the  victor."  1  In  all  the  remaining  five  years 
of  his  life  he  never  complained,  never  discouraged  or 
disheartened  others,  never  quarreled  with  the  doom  of 
fortune  ;  but  those  who  watched  him  closely  saw  some 
thing  of  the  burden  from  which  his  heart  could  not  get 
free.  "I  never  saw  a  sadder  expression  than  General 
Lee  carried  during  the  entire  time  I  was  at  Washington 
College.  It  looked  as  if  the  sorrow  of  a  whole  nation  had 
collected  in  his  countenance,  and  as  if  he  was  bearing 
the  grief  of  his  whole  people.  It  never  left  his  face,  but 
was  ever  there  to  keep  company  with  the  kindly  smile."  2 
Lee's  attitude  towards  the  United  States  Government 
was  from  the  first  one  of  loyal  recognition  and  submis 
sion.  In  June,  1865,  he  applied  for  amnesty  under  the 
President's  proclamation,  and  though  his  request  was 
never  formally  granted,  he  acted  in  every  way  as  if  he 
considered  himself  a  citizen  of  the  united  country.  To 


248  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

a  friend  he  wrote,  "  I  believe  it  to  be  the  duty  of  every 
one  to  unite  in  the  restoration  of  the  country,  and  the 
reestablishment  of  peace  and  harmony."3  And  again, 
"  Were  it  worth  his  while  to  refer  to  my  political  record, 
he  would  have  found  that  I  was  not  in  favor  of  secession 
and  was  opposed  to  war ;  in  fact,  that  I  was  for  the  Con 
stitution  and  the  Union  established  by  our  forefathers. 
No  one  now  is  more  in  favor  of  that  Constitution  and 
that  Union."  4  When  testifying  before  the  Congressional 
Reconstruction  Committee,  he  was  questioned  very 
closely  in  regard  to  his  attitude  toward  future  possible 
complications ;  but  his  answers,  though  characteristic 
ally  reserved,  showed  nothing  but  profound  loyalty  and 
hope. 

That  he  sympathized  with  the  indignation  of  his  coun 
trymen  over  the  ill-judged  and  mismanaged  methods  of 
so-called  reconstruction  is  probable,  though  his  language 
is  always  guarded.  As  to  the  great  theme  of  Southern 
wrath, — the  captivity  of  Davis,  —  Lee  is  full  of  pity  for 
the  captive,  but  does  not  abuse  the  captors.  And  why 
should  he  ?  In  the  place  of  Lee  and  Davis  I  should  have 
done  as  they  did.  But  from  the  Northern  point  of  view 
they  had  striven  rebelliously  to  overthrow  an  established 
government.  They  had  wasted  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  lives  and  hundreds  of  millions  of  treasure.  Any  other 
people  in  any  other  age  of  the  world  would  have  hanged 
both  of  them  without  a  moment's  compunction  or 
delay.  It  would  have  been  unwise,  it  would  have  been 


ROBERT  E.    LEE 

(From  the  painting  by  Pioto) 


LEE  AFTER  THE  WAR  249 

impolitic.  Who  dare  say  it  would  have  been  unhuman  ? 
Yet  the  South  complains,  because  Davis  was  subjected 
for  a  few  months  to  petty  annoyance  and  personal 
insult. 

But  whatever  his  feelings  or  opinions,  Lee  absolutely 
refused  to  take  any  part  in  practical  politics.  His  scru 
pulous  observance  of  his  parole  made  him  unwilling  to 
recognize  any  continued  relation  to  the  Confederacy,  as 
when  he  declined  to  share  in  the  remains  of  the  civil 
service  fund  from  which  other  officers  helped  themselves 
freely.5  It  also  made  him  unwilling  to  meddle  in  the 
political  activities  going  on  about  him.  To  be  sure,  when 
he  was  urged  by  the  Reconstruction  Committee  as  to 
negro  suffrage,  he  spoke  out :  "  My  own  opinion  is  that 
at  this  time  they  cannot  vote  intelligently  and  that  giv 
ing  them  the  right  of  suffrage  would  open  the  door  to  a 
good  deal  of  demagogism  and  lead  to  serious  embar 
rassments  in  various  ways."  6  Are  there  many  people 
to-day  who  think  that  he  was  wrong  ?  But  in  general  he 
was  faithful  to  his  established  rule :  "  I  must  not  wander 
into  politics,  a  subject  I  carefully  avoid."  7  Even  a  nom 
ination  to  the  highest  office  in  his  native  state  was  de 
clined  by  him,  partly  on  personal  grounds:  "  My  feelings 
induce  me  to  prefer  private  life,  which  I  think  more  suit 
able  to  my  .condition  and  age";  but  mainly  because  he 
believed  such  action  "  would  be  used  by  the  dominant 
party  to  excite  hostility  towards  the  State,  and  to  injure 
the  people  in  the  eyes  of  the  country ;  and  I,  therefore, 


250  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

cannot  consent  to  become  the  instrument  of  bringing 
distress  upon  those  whose  prosperity  and  happiness  are 
so  dear  to  me."  8 

The  desire  for  retirement  and  quiet  was  so  strong  that 
Lee  avoided,  if  possible,  everything  connecting  him  with 
the  war  and  all  its  memories.  This  does  not  mean  that 
he  had  any  occasion  for  regret ;  simply  that  a  chapter 
of  terrible  agony  was  closed  forever,  and  he  wished  his 
people  as  well  as  himself  to  look  forward  and  not  back. 
Nor  does  it  mean  that  he  forgot  his  old  comrades.  On 
the  contrary,  he  remembered  them  too  well,  thinking  of 
them  every  day  and  every  hour,  their  unavailing  toil, 
their  fruitless  sacrifice.  "  You  will  meet  many  of  my  old 
soldiers  during  your  trip,"  he  said  in  1869,  "and  I  wish 
you  to  tell  them  that  I  often  think  of  them,  try  every 
day  to  pray  for  them,  and  am  always  gratified  to  hear 
of  their  prosperity."  9 

And  they  remembered  him.  Many  and  many  are 
the  stories  told  of  long  devotion,  of  high  enthusiasm,  of 
eager  desire  for  a  touch,  for  a  glance  even,  that  might 
be  treasured  always.  The  simplest  of  these  stories  are 
the  sweetest.  When  he  visited  Petersburg  in  the  last 
years,  they  thronged  round  his  carriage  and  tried  to 
take  out  the  horses  and  so  draw  him  into  the  city,  but 
he  declared  if  they  did  so,  he  should  have  to  get  out  and 
help  them.10  Just  after  the  war  closed,  he  received  the 
following  letter,  which  needs  no  comment :  "  Dear  Gen 
eral  :  we  have  been  fighting  hard  for  four  years,  and 


LEE  AFTER  THE  WAR  251 

now  the  Yankees  have  got  us  in  Libby  Prison.  They 
are  treating  us  awful  bad.  The  boys  want  you  to  get  us 
out  if  you  can,  but,  if  you  can't,  just  ride  by  the  Libby, 
and  let  us  see  you  and  give  you  a  cheer.  We  will  all 
feel  better  after  it."  n  On  one  occasion  the  general  was 
ill  and  a  watchful  attendant  was  taking  pains  to  see 
that  he  was  in  no  way  disturbed.  His  room  was  on  the 
ground  floor  and  the  nurse  noticed  a  man  step  softly 
to  the  window  and  try  to  open  the  blinds.  "  Go  away," 
she  said.  "  That  is  General  Lee's  room."  The  man  went, 
murmuring,  "  I  only  wanted  to  see  him."  12 

But  though  Lee  was  glad  to  meet  his  old  soldiers,  he 
was  reluctant  to  talk  of  the  war  with  them  or  with  any 
one  else.  He  did,  indeed,  plan  "  to  write  a  history  of  my 
campaigns,  not  to  vindicate  myself  and  promote  my 
reputation,  but  to  show  the  world  what  our  poor  boys 
with  their  small  numbers  and  scant  resources  had  suc 
ceeded  in  accomplishing."  13  But  the  history  was  never 
written,  and  I  do  not  believe  it  ever  would  have  been 
written.  As  time  went  on,  he  would  have  shrunk  from  it 
more  and  more.  For  this  reason  the  few  comments  that 
he  has  left  us  are  doubly  precious.  There  is  the  delight 
ful  letter  to  the  Union  general,  Hunter,  who  had  sought 
Lee's  justification  for  the  line  of  retreat  from  Lynchburg : 
"  I  am  not  advised  as  to  the  motives  which  induced  you 
to  adopt  the  line  of  retreat  which  you  took,  and  am  not, 
perhaps,  competent  to  judge  of  the  question  ;  but  I  cer 
tainly  expected  you  to  retreat  by  way  of  the  Shenandoah 


252  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

Valley,  and  was  gratified  at  the  time  that  you  preferred 
the  route  through  the  mountains  to  the  Ohio  —  leaving 
the  Valley  open  for  General  Early's  advance  into  Mary 
land."  14  There  are  the  rare  observations  on  the  Union 
commanders.  As  to  McClellan :  A  friend  "  asked  Gen 
eral  Lee  which  in  his  opinion  was  the  ablest  of  the  Union 
generals  ;  to  which  the  latter  answered,  bringing  his 
hand  down  on  the  table  with  emphatic  energy,  '  McClel 
lan,  by  all  odds.'  "  15  As  to  Grant,  the  often  quoted  but 
probably  apocryphal  expressions  of  extravagant  eulogy, 
and  the  authentic  written  words  showing  respect  and 
esteem,  "  General  Grant,  who  possesses  magnanimity  as 
well  as  ability."  16  There  is  the  characteristic  advice  to 
General  Early  as  to  the  whole  subject :  "  I  would  recom 
mend,  however,  that  while  giving  facts  necessary  for 
your  own  vindication,  you  omit  all  epithets  or  remarks 
calculated  to  excite  bitterness  or  animosity  between  dif 
ferent  sections  of  the  country."  17 

Anything  like  interviewing  it  is  needless  to  say  that 
Lee  shunned  with  disgust  and  he  treated  reporters  with 
less  civility  than  he  showed  to  anybody  else.  "  One  even 
ing  a  correspondent  of  the  '  New  York  Herald '  paid  him 
a  visit  for  the  purpose  of  securing  an  interview.  The  gen 
eral  was  courteous  and  polite,  but  very  firm.  He  stood 
during  the  interview,  and  finally  dismissed  the  reporter, 
saying :  '  I  shall  be  glad  to  see  you  as  a  friend,  but  re 
quest  that  the  visit  may  not  be  made  in  your  professional 
capacity.' " 18  Of  Swinton  he  said,  "  He  seemed  to  be 


LEE  AFTER  THE  WAR  253 

gentlemanly,  but  I  derive  no  pleasure  from  my  inter 
views  with  bookmakers."  19 

And  if  Lee  shunned  publicity  through  the  press,  he 
was  even  more  unwilling  to  be  made  an  object  of  per 
sonal  curiosity.  On  the  rare  occasions  when  he  was  per 
suaded  to  appear  in  public  places,  he  was  received  with 
an  enthusiasm,  a  deference,  a  universal  esteem  and  affec 
tion  which  must  have  touched  him.  But  his  natural 
modesty  and  reserve  shrank  from  all  such  manifestations, 
whenever  possible.  He  frequently  alludes  to  his  feelings 
on  the  subject  with  gentle  humor.  "  They  would  make 
too  much  fuss  over  the  old  rebel."  20  "Why  should  they 
care  to  see  me  ?  I  am  only  a  poor  old  Confederate."  21 
And  there  is  the  delicious  story  of  the  raffle.  "  I  have  had 
a  visit  since  commencing  this  letter  from  Mrs.  William 
Bath,  of  New  Orleans,  who  showed  me  a  wreath  made 
in  part,  she  says,  of  my,  your  [Mrs.  Lee's],  and  Mildred's 
hair,  sent  her  by  you  more  than  two  years  ago.  She  says 
she  sent  you  a  similar  one  at  the  time,  but  of  this  I  could 
tell  her  nothing,  for  I  remember  nothing  about  it.  She 
says  her  necessities  now  compel  her  to  put  her  wreath 
up  to  raffle,  and  she  desired  to  know  whether  I  had  any 
objection  to  her  scheme,  and  whether  I  would  head  the 
list.  All  this,  as  you  may  imagine,  is  extremely  agreeable 
to  me,  but  I  had  to  decline  her  offer  of  taking  a  chance 
in  her  raffle."  22 

So,  instead  of  glory  and  applause  and  raffles,  Lee 
wanted  quiet.  He  had  neighbors,  rich  and  poor,  high  and 


254  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

humble,  who  adored  him ;  and  their  homelike  kindness 
and  affection  he  thoroughly  appreciated.  His  son  writes 
that  for  days  and  weeks,  after  the  family  was  established 
at  Lexington,  "  supplies  came  pouring  to  my  mother  from 
the  people  in  the  town  and  country,  even  from  the  poor 
mountaineers,  who,  anxious  to  'do  something  to  help 
General  Lee,'  brought  in  handbags  of  walnuts,  potatoes, 
and  game."  23  He  had  friends,  old  and  new,  who  wrote 
him  cordial  and  admiring  letters  and  drew  from  him  such 
charming  replies  as  that  addressed  to  the  English  poet 
Worsley,  and  many  others.  Best  of  all  he  had  his  family 
circle,  the  invalid  wife  to  whom  he  gave  constant  care 
and  who  paid  it  back  in  sunshine,  the  sons  and  daugh 
ters  and  daughters-in-law,  whose  serious  concerns  re 
ceived  his  earnest  attention  and  sympathy,  and  whose 
lighter  doings  he  followed  with  the  playful  jest  and 
kindly  merriment  under  which  he  took  pains  to  veil  the 
weight  that  always  pressed  his  heart. 

It  cannot  be  said  that  the  many  letters  preserved  from 
this  period  often  contain  frank  outpouring,  or  indicate 
that  Lee  gave  himself  up  to  any  human  soul.  Yet  they 
are  well  worth  attentive  study  as  showing  the  constant 
tenderness  of  his  nature  and  his  watchful  devotion  to  the 
welfare  of  those  about  him.  And  now  and  then  there  is 
a  glimpse  of  profound  emotion,  as  in  the  reference  to  his 
lost  daughter.  "  I  shall  go  first  to  Warrenton  Springs, 
North  Carolina,  to  visit  the  grave  of  my  dear  Annie, 
where  I  have  always  promised  myself  to  go,  and  I  think, 


LEE  AFTER  THE  WAR  255 

if  I  am  to  accomplish  it,  I  have  no  time  to  lose.  I  wish 
to  witness  her  quiet  sleep,  with  her  dear  hands  crossed 
over  her  breast,  as  it  were  in  mute  prayer,  undisturbed 
by  her  distance  from  us,  and  to  feel  that  her  pure  spirit 
is  waiting  in  bliss  in  the  land  of  the  blessed."  24 

Much  as  Lee  liked  home  and  quiet,  he  was  the  last 
man  in  the  world  to  sit  down  and  fold  his  hands,  to  feel 
that  his  life's  task  was  done,  while  his  limbs  had  strength 
in  them.  Even  as  a  simple  Virginian  farmer  he  would 
have  worked  and  worked  hard.  The  world  had  seen  too 
much  of  his  greatness,  however,  to  let  him  hide  it  in 
shadow.  During  all  the  years  after  the  war  offers  kept 
coming  to  him,  of  establishment,  of  occupation,  of  pos 
sible  usefulness  and  assured  emolument.  An  English 
nobleman  offered  him  a  country-seat  in  England  and  an 
annuity  of  ^3000.  Lee  answered,  "  I  must  abide  the  for 
tunes  and  share  the  fate  of  my  people."  25  He  was  urged 
to  emigrate  with  a  Southern  colony  to  Mexico.  He  an 
swered  :  "  The  thought  of  abandoning  the  country  and 
all  that  must  be  left  in  it  is  abhorrent  to  my  feelings, 
and  I  prefer  to  struggle  for  its  restoration  and  share  its 
fate,  rather  than  give  up  all  as  lost."  26 

Many  business  positions  of  high  trust  or  dignity  were 
pressed  upon  him.  He  uniformly  declined  them,  alleging 
that  his  training  did  not  lie  in  that  direction  and  that  his 
age  rendered  him  incapable  of  performing  such  arduous 
labors.  When  he  was  told  that  no  labors  were  expected 
of  him,  that  his  name  was  all  that  would  be  required,  and 


256  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

that  a  large  salary  would  be  paid  simply  for  the  use  of 
that,  he  replied  that  his  name  was  not  for  sale.27 

It  was  suggested  that  he  should  be  at  the  head  of 
a  large  house  in  New  York  to  represent  Southern  com 
merce,  with  immense  sums  of  money  at  his  disposal.  He 
said  in  response:  "I  am  grateful,  but  I  have  a  self- 
imposed  task  which  I  must  accomplish.  I  have  led  the 
young  men  of  the  South  in  battle ;  I  have  seen  many  of 
them  die  on  the  field  ;  I  shall  devote  my  remaining  ener 
gies  to  training  young  men  to  do  their  duty  in  life." 28 

For  already,  within  a  brief  time  after  the  war  closed, 
he  had  accepted  an  office  which  in  itself  seemed  neither 
very  brilliant  nor  very  profitable,  at  least  when  compared 
with  the  position  Lee  occupied  in  the  eyes  of  the  whole 
world.  After  much  hesitation,  not  as  to  brilliancy  or 
profit,  but  as  to  his  own  fitness,  he  had  yielded  to  the 
request  of  the  trustees  of  Washington  College  that  he 
would  become  their  president.  "  Fully  impressed  with  the 
responsibilities  of  the  office,"  he  wrote  on  the  24th  of 
August,  1865,  "  I  have  feared  that  I  should  be  unable  to 
discharge  its  duties  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  Trustees,  or 
to  the  benefit  of  the  country.  .  .  .  Should  you,  however, 
take  a  different  view,  and  think  that  my  services  in  the 
position  tendered  me  by  the  Board  will  be  advantageous 
to  the  college  and  the  country,  I  will  yield  to  your  judg 
ment  and  accept  it."  29 

At  that  time  the  college  consisted  of  forty  students 
and  four  professors. 30  The  endowment  was  unproductive 


—  ; 


fe^   td  ffiu-  tfM^C), 


v/       <>/-&—      /  r      ,       V  ) 

^^•(-tf^^uo  Q^^  ^^   ^ 


<tts^-~<      /t 

A*£—  sLA. 

c^t^i  (2^^tA^^_^^l<x^-xr^  ^IA 

f          V  S~\  t"     _ 

f/tSL+.  4^c*^-<- 


LEE  AFTER  THE  WAR  257 

and  the  salary  offered  the  new  president  —  fifteen  hun 
dred  dollars — was  offered  purely  on  a  basis  of  faith. 
Lee's  great  name  told  at  once,  and  money  and  students 
began  to  appear.  But  it  was  by  no  means  his  intention 
to  work  only  with  his  name.  For  five  years  he  gave  the 
best  of  his  thought  and  toil  to  building  up  the  institution 
which  has  most  justly  coupled  him  in  glory  with  its  great 
original  founder,  and  all  the  qualities  which  had  made  him 
famous  on  the  battlefield  now  displayed  themselves  with 
richer  and  more  fruitful  effort,  in  the  ways  of  peace.  It 
may  indeed  be  thought  that  he  did  not  show  quite  all  the 
grasping  greed  of  the  modern  college  president  when  he 
wrote  to  a  lady  who  was  considering  a  large  legacy,  "  It 
is  furthest  from  my  wish  to  divert  any  donation  from 
the  Theological  Seminary  at  Alexandria,  for  I  am  well 
acquainted  with  the  merits  of  that  institution,  have 
a  high  respect  for  its  professors,  and  am  an  earnest  ad 
vocate  of  its  object.  I  only  give  you  the  information  you 
desire  and  wish  you  to  follow  your  own  preferences  in 
the  matter."  31  But  perhaps,  after  all,  such  methods  are 
not  less  effective  than  some  that  are  more  bustling. 

And  in  performing  this  arduous  and  useful  work  for 
others  Lee  doubtless  brought  happiness  to  himself  also, 
as  is  shown  by  his  most  beautiful  and  striking  observa 
tion  which  I  have  already  quoted  and  am  glad  to  quote 
again.  "  For  my  own  part,  I  much  enjoy  the  charms  of 
civil  life,  and  find  too  late  that  I  have  wasted  the  best 
part  of  my  existence."  32  Thus  loved,  honored,  and 


258  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

revered  by  all,  he  labored  fruitfully,  till  the  end  came,  far 
too  soon  and  doubtless  hastened  by  his  vast  cares  and 
vaster  sorrows,  on  the  i2th  of  October,  1870.  He  was 
buried,  with  simple  ceremony,  at  Lexington,  in  the  chapel 
which  had  been  erected  by  his  efforts,  and  which  will  be 
an  object  of  pilgrimage  to  thousands  who  cherish  his 
memory. 

But  let  us  look  more  closely  at  what  he  accomplished 
in  his  college  presidency  for  the  profoundly  interesting 
light  it  throws  on  the  various  aspects  of  his  character. 
To  begin  with,  as  I  have  said,  he  worked.  His  was  no 
ornamental  position.  He  spent  his  days  regularly  in  his 
office  and  attended  personally  to  his  immense  correspond 
ence,  with  so  much  faithfulness  that  a  newspaper  editor, 
who  had  occasion  to  send  to  a  large  number  of  college 
presidents  a  circular  calling  for  an  answer,  relates  that 
General  Lee  was  the  only  one  from  whom  he  received  a 
reply.33  Nor  did  he  confine  himself  to  the  details  of  the 
administrative  side  of  his  position.  He  was  constant  in 
visiting  examinations  and  recitations,  remaining  a  few 
moments,  asking  pertinent  and  stimulating  questions  in 
every  sort  of  subject,  then  departing  with  the  dignified 
bow  of  his  grave,  old-fashioned  courtesy.34 

And  his  intellectual  interest  was  much  more  than  a 
mere  routine  observation  of  pedagogical  work.  As  may 
be  seen  from  his  yearly  reports  to  the  trustees,35  he  set 
himself  at  once  to  devise  large  educational  plans,  which 
went  far  beyond  the  means  he  had  to  work  with  and  far 


ROBERT   E.   LEE 

As  college  president 


LEE  AFTER  THE  WAR  259 

beyond  the  traditions  that  prevailed  about  him.  Brought 
up  at  once  in  old  habits  of  thought  and  in  modern  prac 
tical  training,  he  would  have  saved,  if  possible,  the  lib 
eral,  classical  culture  of  the  past,  combined  it  with  the 
energetic  commercial  methods  of  new  America.36  He 
wanted  to  develop  his  scientific  courses,  his  laboratories, 
begged  money  for  them,  sought  teachers  for  them.  He 
designed  an  elective  system  which  was  most  broadly  in 
advance  of  current  ideas,  yet  he  saw  the  necessity  of 
checking  such  a  system  by  rigid  supervision  and  con 
straint.  In  other  words,  so  far  as  his  limited  opportunities 
will  allow  us  to  judge,  he  was  a  thinker  in  education  as 
he  was  a  thinker  in  war. 

But  these  were  "  worlds  not  realized,"  and  I  find  him 
in  his  human  relations  even  more  worth  study.  He  man 
aged  his  faculty  as  he  managed  his  generals,  with  firm 
ness  tempered  by  an  ever-ready  sympathy.  In  their  per 
sonal  welfare  he  took  the  kindest  and  most  genuine 
interest.  "My  wife  reminds  me,"  says  Professor  Joynes, 
"  that  once,  when  I  was  detained  at  home  by  sickness, 
General  Lee  came  every  day,  through  a  deep  Lexington 
snow,  and  climbed  the  high  stairs,  to  inquire  about  me 
and  to  comfort  her."  37  At  the  same  time  he  was  minutely 
exacting  himself  about  matters  of  duty  and  wished  others 
to  be  so.  A  professor  walked  into  church  with  his  pipe- 
stem  protruding  from  his  pocket.  This  caused  some  com 
ment  in  the  faculty  meeting,  and  the  offender  took  out 
the  pipe  and  began  cutting  off  the  stem.  "  No,  Mr.  Har- 


260  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

ris,"  said  the  general,  "  don't  do  that;  next  time  leave  it 
at  home."  38  The  narrow  circumstances,  not  only  of  the 
college  but  of  the  whole  South,  seemed,  to  Lee,  at  any 
rate,  to  demand  the  closest  economy.  One  day  a  profes 
sor  wished  to  consult  a  catalogue  and  was  going  to  tear 
the  wrapper  off  one  that  had  been  prepared  for  mailing. 
Lee  hastily  handed  him  another  already  opened.  "  Take 
this,  if  you  please."  39  Regularity  and  punctuality  were 
his  cardinal  principles  and  he  did  not  like  others  to 
neglect  them.  A  professor  who  was  not  always  constant 
at  chapel  one  day  spoke  of  the  importance  of  inducing 
the  students  to  attend.  Lee  quietly  remarked,  "  The  best 
way  that  I  know  of  to  induce  students  to  attend  is  to  set 
them  the  example  by  always  attending  ourselves."  40 

Some  of  these  anecdotes  and  the  many  others  like 
them  suggest  that  Lee  may  have  appeared  just  a  little 
of  a  martinet,  just  a  little  over-particular.  I  suspect  that 
he  did  occasionally  appear  so  to  some  who  have  forgot 
ten  it  now,  or  who  do  not  wish  to  remember  it.  Yet  the 
general  testimony  is  that  kindness  of  manner  made  up  for 
any  sharpness  of  speech  ;  and  as  we  have  seen  that  his 
greatness  in  war  came  from  his  wide  knowledge  of  all 
rules  and  his  perfect  willingness  to  fling  them  aside  at 
the  right  moment,  so  we  find  that  in  peace  he  thought 
nothing  of  tradition  or  system  when  it  trammeled  the 
progress  of  the  soul.  "  Make  no  needless  rules,"  he  told 
his  teachers.41  Again,  "  We  must  never  make  a  rule  that 
we  cannot  enforce."  42  And  when  one  of  them  appealed  to 


LEE  AFTER  THE  WAR  261 

precedent  and  urged  that  "  we  must  not  respect  persons," 
Lee  replied,  "  I  always  respect  persons  and  care  little 
for  precedent."  43  Coming  from  a  man  whose  life  was 
built  on  law  and  the  reverence  for  law,  I  call  that 
magnificent. 

On  this  nice  balance  of  law  and  liberty  his  whole  dis 
cipline  of  the  college  was  based.  It  might  be  supposed 
that  as  a  military  man,  brought  up  in  a  military  school, 
he  would  be  a  firm  believer  in  the  military  methods  of 
training  of  which  we  nowadays  hear  so  much.  It  is  only 
another  instance  of  his  breadth  of  mind  that  this  was 
not  so.  "  I  have  heard  him  say,"  writes  Professor  Joynes, 
"that  military  discipline  was,  unfortunately,  necessary 
in  military  education,  but  was,  in  his  opinion,  a  most  un 
suitable  training  for  civil  life."  44  Without  going  to  any 
opposite  extreme,  he  believed,  as  we  have  seen  above, 
in  reducing  rules  to  the  minimum,  in  making  rules  sim 
ple  and  not  vexatious,  believed  that  the  highest  aim  of 
education  is  to  produce  a  type  of  character  which  shall 
leave  rules  unnecessary.  "  Young  gentleman,"  he  said 
to  one  newcoming  student,  "  we  have  no  printed  rules. 
We  have  but  one  rule  here,  that  every  student  be  a  gen 
tleman."  45  And  in  a  general  circular  issued  after  some 
public  disturbance  he  embodied  his  idea  completely. 
"The  Faculty  therefore  appeal  to  the  honor  and  self- 
respect  of  the  students  to  prevent  any  similar  occurrence, 
trusting  that  their  sense  of  what  is  due  to  themselves, 
their  parents,  and  the  institution  to  which  they  belong, 


262  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

will  be  more  effectual  in  teaching  them  what  is  right  and 
manly  than  anything  they  can  say."  46 

Such  leniency  of  system  sometimes  works  havoc.  Not 
when  it  is  supported  by  the  personal  force  which  Lee 
gave  it.  He  used  the  same  methods  with  his  students 
that  he  had  used  with  his  soldiers.  His  reprimands  were 
gentle  and  quiet,  but  they  were  effective.  They  did  not 
sting,  but  they  stirred  and  touched  and  inspired.  Rough 
and  bitter  he  could  not  make  them.  When  some  one 
remonstrated  a  little  on  this,  he  answered :  "  I  cannot 
help  it ;  if  a  gentleman  can't  understand  the  language  of 
a  gentleman,  he  must  remain  in  ignorance,  for  a  gentle 
man  cannot  write  in  any  other  way."  47  Nevertheless, 
it  seems  that  he  usually  achieved  his  object.  For  all  his 
gentleness,  the  wildest  boys  were  apt  to  come  out  of  his 
office  in  tears.  One,  who  had  boasted  that  this  would  not 
happen,  underwent  the  same  experience  as  the  rest. 
"What  did  he  do  to  you  ?  Did  he  scold  you?  "  were  the 
eager  inquiries.  "  No ;  I  wish  he  had.  I  wish  he  had 
whipped  me.  I  could  have  stood  it  better.  He  talked  to 
me  about  my  mother  and  the  sacrifices  she  is  making  to 
send  me  to  college,  and  before  I  knew  it,  I  was  blubber 
ing  like  a  baby." 48 

As  with  his  officers  and  soldiers,  he  had  endless  ingen 
ious  devices  of  kindly  fun  for  making  reproof  more  tol 
erable  —  and  more  effectual.  A  student  was  once  called 
to  account  for  absence.  "  Mr.  M.,  I  am  glad  to  see  you 
better,"  said  the  general,  smiling.  "  But,  General,  I  have 


LEE  AFTER  THE  WAR  263 

not  been  sick."  "  Then  I  am  glad  you  have  better  news 
from  home."  "  But,  General,  I  have  had  no  bad  news." 
"Ah,"  said  the  general,  "  I  took  it  for  granted  that  noth 
ing  less  than  sickness  or  distressing  news  from  home 
could  have  kept  you  from  your  duty."49  In  the  same 
vein  Mr.  Page  has  a  story  of  being  late  for  prayers  and 
the  general's  asking  him  to  'tell  Miss  -  —  that  I  say 
will  she  please  have  breakfast  a  little  earlier  for  you?"50 

And  again,  as  with  the  officers  and  soldiers,  back  of 
Lee's  discipline  there  was  love.  He  was  not  thinking 
of  his  own  dignity,  or  even  of  the  reputation  of  the  col 
lege.  He  was  thinking  first  of  the  boy  and  of  what  could 
be  done  to  save  him.  And  the  boy  knew  it.  It  is  said 
that  often  in  the  faculty  meetings,  when  a  case  seemed 
hopeless  and  expulsion  the  only  remedy,  Lee  would  plead, 
"  Don't  you  think  it  would  be  better  to  bear  with  him  a 
little  longer?  Perhaps  we  may  do  him  some  good."  51 

With  scholarship  it  was  as  with  discipline  for  conduct. 
Lee  made  it  a  point  to  know  every  student,  know  his 
character,  know  his  record,  know  even  his  marks,  when 
necessary.  A  boy's  name  was  one  day  mentioned.  "  I 
am  sorry  to  see  he  has  fallen  so  far  behind  in  his  mathe 
matics,"  the  general  observed.  "  You  are  mistaken,  Gen 
eral,  he  is  one  of  the  very  best  men  in  my  class."  "  He 
only  got  66  on  his  last  month's  report,"  was  the  gener 
al's  answer.  Investigation  showed  that  the  president  was 
right  as  to  the  report,  but  a  mistake  had  been  made  in 
copying  66  for  99.62 


264  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

Reproof,  encouragement,  exhortation  as  to  study  were 
given  in  the  same  vein,  with  the  same  tact  and  ingenious 
aptness,  as  for  other  things.  To  one  parent  of  a  neglig 
ent  pupil  he  writes  :  "I  have  myself  told  him  as  plainly 
but  as  kindly  as  I  could  that  it  was  necessary  for  him  to 
change  his  course,  or  that  he  would  be  obliged  to  return 
home.  He  has  promised  me  that  he  would  henceforth 
be  diligent  and  attentive,  and  endeavor  to  perform  his 
duty.  I  hope  that  he  may  succeed,  for  I  think  that  he  is 
able  to  do  well  if  he  really  makes  the  effort."  53  Of  an 
other  similar  case  he  remarked,  in  his  humorous  fashion, 
"  He  is  entirely  too  careful  of  the  health  of  his  father's 
son.  .  .  .  We  do  not  want  our  students  to  injure  their 
health  studying,  but  we  want  them  to  come  as  near  to 
it  as  it  is  possible  to  miss.  This  young  gentleman,  you 
see,  is  a  long  way  from  the  danger-line." 64  And  again, 
he  offered  a  like  suggestion  to  the  pupil  himself :  "  How 
is  your  mother  ?  I  am  sure  you  must  be  devoted  to  her ; 
you  are  so  careful  of  the  health  of  her  son."  55 

Many  of  these  incidents  are  doubtless  trivial  in  them 
selves.  They  are  valuable  as  showing  how  entirely  Lee 
was  devoted  to  his  work,  and  that  he  threw  himself  into 
the  task  of  building  up  a  little  college  with  as  much  zeal 
as  he  had  given  to  the  creating  of  a  great  nation.  What 
counted  with  all  these  young  men  was  his  personal  influ 
ence  and  he  knew  it.  In  point  of  feet,  he  was  creating, 
or  re-creating,  a  great  nation  still.  His  patience,  his  cour 
age,  his  attitude  towards  the  past,  his  attitude  towards 


LEE  AFTER  THE  WAR  265 

the  future,  his  perfect  forgiveness,  his  large  magnanim 
ity,  above  all,  his  hope,  were  reflected  in  the  eager  hearts 
about  him  and  from  them  spread  wide  over  the  bruised 
and  beaten  South,  which  stood  so  sorely  in  need  of  all 
these  things.  I  have  referred  in  an  earlier  chapter  to  the 
immense  importance  of  his  general  influence  in  bringing 
about  reconciliation  and  peace.  It  is  almost  impossible 
to  overestimate  this.  We  have  the  high  Northern  evi 
dence  of  Grant :  "  All  the  people  except  a  few  political 
leaders  in  the  South  will  accept  whatever  he  does  as 
right  and  will  be  guided  to  a  great  extent  by  his  exam 
ple."  56  Perhaps  nothing  will  better  illustrate  the  passion 
ate  testimony  of  Southerners  than  a  simple  anecdote.  A 
Confederate  soldier  told  General  Wise  that  he  had  taken 
the  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  United  States.  "  You  have 
disgraced  the  family,"  said  Wise.  "  General  Lee  told  me 
to  do  it."  "  Oh,  that  alters  the  case.  Whatever  General 
Lee  says  is  all  right,  I  don't  care  what  it  is."  57  Does  not 
the  knowledge  of  these  things  double  the  pathos  of  that 
profoundly  pathetic  sentence  in  one  of  Lee's  late  letters? 
"Life  is  indeed  gliding  away  and  I  have  nothing  of  good 
to  show  for  mine  that  is  past.  I  pray  I  may  be  spared  to 
accomplish  something  for  the  benefit  of  mankind  and 
the  honor  of  God."  58  If  he  had  accomplished  nothing, 
what  shall  be  said  of  some  of  us  ? 

Yet  in  spite  of  all  this,  it  must  be  admitted  that  Lee's 
life  will  always  be  regarded  as  a  record  of  failure.  And 
it  is  precisely  because  he  failed  that  I  have  been  inter- 


266  LEE  THE  AMERICAN 

ested  to  make  this  study  of  him.  Success  is  the  idol  of 
the  world  and  the  world's  idols  have  been  successful. 
Washington,  Lincoln,  Grant,  were  doubtless  very  great. 
But  they  were  successful.  Who  shall  say  just  how  far 
that  element  of  success  enters  into  their  greatness.  Here 
was  a  man  who  remains  great,  although  he  failed. 
America  in  the  twentieth  century  worships  success,  is 
too  ready  to  test  character  by  it,  to  be  blind  to  those 
faults  success  hides,  to  those  qualities  that  can  do  with 
out  it.  Here  was  a  man  who  failed  grandly,  a  man  who 
said  that  "  human  virtue  should  be  equal  to  human 
calamity,"  and  showed  that  it  could  be  equal  to  it, 
and  so,  without  pretense,  without  display,  without  self- 
consciousness,  left  an  example  that  future  Americans 
may  study  with  profit  as  long  as  there  is  an  America. 

A  young  sophomore  was  once  summoned  to  the  presi 
dent's  office  and  gently  admonished  that  only  patience 
and  industry  would  prevent  the  failure  that  would  inev 
itably  come  to  him  through  college  and  through  life. 

"  But,  General,  you  failed,"  remarked  the  sophomore, 
with  the  inconceivable  ineptitude  of  sophomores. 

"  I  hope  that  you  may  be  more  fortunate  than  I,"  was 
the  tranquil  answer.59 

Literature  can  add  nothing  to  that. 

THE  END 


APPENDIX 


APPENDIX 
LEE  AND   PSYCHOGRAPHY 

WHAT  I  have  aimed  at  in  this  book  is  the  portrayal  of  a  soul. 
We  live  in  an  age  of  names  and  a  new  name  has  recently  been 
invented  —  psychography.  This  means,  I  suppose,  an  art 
which  is  not  psychology,  because  it  deals  with  individuals, 
not  general  principles,  and  is  not  biography,  because  it  swings 
clear  of  the  formal  sequence  of  chronological  detail,  and  uses 
only  those  deeds  and  words  and  happenings  that  are  spiritu 
ally  significant. 

New  names  are  often  attached  to  old  things.  This  thing  is 
as  old  as  Plutarch,  as  old  as  the  Bible,  as  old  as  the  first  man 
who  reflected  on  his  fellows  and  sketched  them  with  one  brief 
word  that  made  others  reflect.  What  a  portrait  painter  was 
Tacitus,  and  Clarendon,  and  Saint-Simon.  But  the  nine 
teenth  century,  with  its  scientific  training,  brought  more 
method  to  the  work,  more  patient  curiosity,  more  desire  to 
base  its  results  on  deep  research,  and  delicate  discrimination. 
Matthew  Arnold's  essay  on  Falkland  is  an  English  master 
piece  in  this  kind.  Lowell  wrote  A  Great  Public  Character. 
Mr.  Rothschild,  in  his  Lincoln :  Master  of  Men,  has  drawn  a 
full-length  with  loving  care.  And  there  are  others  too  numer 
ous  to  mention.  But  the  prince  of  all  psychographers  is 
incontestably  Sainte-Beuve.  He  is  usually  spoken  of  as  a 
literary  critic.  In  pure  literature  he  has  some  limitations.  As 
what  he  himself  called  "a  naturalist  of  souls"  1  he  has  never 
been  surpassed,  or  equaled,  or  even  approached. 
-  The  art  of  painting  souls  has  its  difficulties.  First,  one 


270  APPENDIX 

would  wish  to  be  fair-minded,  impartial,  free  from  prejudice. 
This  is,  I  think,  impossible,  and  the  impartial  historian,  or 
biographer,  —  that  is,  he  who  studies  his  subject  in  and  for 
itself,  without  preconception  or  prepossession,  without  an 
instinctive  disposition  to  misrepresent  from  one  cause  or  an 
other,  —  does  not  exist.  There  are  simply  those  who  think 
they  are  impartial  and  those  who  know  they  are  not. 

To  begin  with,  there  is  the  cruder  element  of  political,  or 
religious,  or  social  partisanship,  from  which  none  of  us  is 
wholly  free.  Tacitus  can  see  little  good  in  a  Caesar.  Clarendon 
finds  the  Devil's  finger  pushing  Cromwell.  Saint-Simon  hates 
a  parvenu.  Mommsen  has  to  justify  the  imperialism  of 
Prussia  in  the  imperialism  of  Rome.  These  are  the  extremes. 
Beside  them  Mr.  Rhodes  and  Gardiner  seem  fair,  dispassion 
ate  judges.  Are  they  so?  Mr.  Rhodes's  admirable  history  is 
spoken  of  as  perfectly  impartial  —  by  Northerners.  South 
erners  usually  refer  to  it  as  the  least  partial  of  Northern  his 
tories.  Certainly,  in  spite  of  all  reserves  and  concessions,  Mr. 
Rhodes  throughout  takes  the  Northern  view  of  things  —  as  is 
natural  and  right.  So  Gardiner,  for  all  his  fairness,  obviously 
praises  the  Puritans  because  they  were  Puritans,  the  Cavaliers 
although  they  were  Cavaliers.  Indeed,  it  is  not  impossible 
that  the  open,  avowed,  and  evident  partisanship  of  Clarendon 
(discarding,  of  course,  all  question  as  to  accuracy  of  fact) 
makes  safer  reading  than  the  disguised,  insinuating  partisan 
ship  of  Gardiner. 

But  these  established  prepossessions  of  creed  or  preference 
are  not  the  only  obstacles  to  the  psychographer's  impartiality. 
He  is  exposed  to  another  danger  which  is  greater  according  as 
his  gift  of  artistic  treatment  and  expression  is  greater.  That 
is  the  danger  of  making  his  means  more  than  his  end,  of  taking 
such  vigorous  and  startling  measures  to  attract  the  attention 


APPENDIX  271 

of  his  readers  and  stir  their  passions  that  he  emphasizes  both 
the  good  and  the  evil  in  his  subject  far  more  than  nature  war 
rants  or  justice  allows.  This  is  the  real  weakness  of  such 
writers  as  Macaulay  and  Froude,  far  more  than  their  political 
prejudices,  just  as,  in  a  different  order  of  literature,  it  is  the 
weakness  of  Dickens.  Macaulay  doubtless  loved  the  Puri 
tans.  But  he  loved  a  clever  rhetorical  touch  far  more  than 
any  Puritan.  It  was  well  to  make  his  readers  delight  in  the 
champions  of  liberty.  It  was  even  better  to  make  his  readers 
stare  and  gasp  at  the  skill  with  which  he  painted  a  champion 
of  liberty  or  a  tool  of  Satan.  Therefore  his  high  lights  are  very 
high  and  his  shadows  very  deep. 

"Lord  Macaulay  had,  as  we  know,  his  own  heightened 
and  telling  way  of  putting  things,"  says  Matthew  Arnold. 
Sainte-Beuve  also  has  his  tranquil  judgment  on  "the  clever 
and  dangerous  counsels  of  M.  Macaulay,  much  in  vogue  at 
present.  'The  best  portraits,'  says  that  great  historical 
painter,  'are  those  in  which  there  is  a  slight  touch  of  exag 
geration.  .  .  .  Something  is  lost  in  exactitude,  but  much 
is  gained  in  effect.  .  .  .  The  less  important  features  are  ne 
glected,  but  the  great  characteristic  traits  are  permanently 
impressed  upon  the  mind.'  It  is  thus  that  many  great  figures 
are  revamped  and  made  over  long  after  they  have  passed 
away."  2  I  have  said  that  Sainte-Beuve  was  "a  naturalist  of 
souls."  Macaulay  might  well  be  called  "a  showman  of  souls." 

In  dealing  with  historical  material  of  all  sorts  one  finds  it 
constantly  necessary  to  be  on  one's  guard  against  this  tend 
ency.  Thus,  with  the  innumerable  anecdotes  bearing  on  the 
Civil  War,  the  plain,  uncouth  narrative  of  a  soldier  who  has 
no  pretension  whatever  to  literature  often  gives  the  impression 
of  being  far  more  reliable  than  the  polished  version  contributed 
by  a  John  Esten  Cooke  or  a  George  Gary  Eggleston. 


272  APPENDIX 

But  this  is  not  all.  A  psychographer  may  rid  himself  to  a 
considerable  degree  of  general  prejudices.  He  may  by  habit 
and  temperament  grow  to  think  first,  last,  and  always  of  his 
subject,  never  of  his  effects  (which  is  the  sure  cure  for  rhet 
oric)  .  And  still  he  may  fall  into  an  even  more  pervasive  and 
treacherous  form  of  misrepresentation :  he  may  be  misled  by  a 
personal  affection  for  his  subject,  for  his  model,  for  what,  in 
a  certain  sense,  becomes  almost  his  own  child.  Probably  no 
biographer  who  is  worth  much  is  altogether  free  from  this.  It 
is  the  obvious  cause  of  the  undue  partiality  which  Sainte- 
Beuve  is  said  to  show  towards  some  of  his  minor  figures,  such 
as  the  Guerins.  Gaston  Boissier's  portrait  of  Cicero  is  one  of 
the  most  lucid,  most  limpid  character  studies  ever  made, 
absolutely  free  from  any  suggestion  of  rhetorical  effect ;  but  on 
every  page  you  feel  the  painter's  love  for  his  subject,  and  that 
the  defects  which  are  neither  slurred  nor  palliated  are  touched 
in  a  very  different  spirit  from  that  in  which  a  lover  of  Caesar 
would  have  touched  them. 

In  our  own  war  literature  Henderson's  Jackson  is  an  excel 
lent  example  of  what  I  mean.  There  are  few  saner,  more 
exact,  judicial  tempers  than  Henderson's.  Not  on  any  ac 
count  would  he  deliberately  have  concealed  or  misrepre 
sented  any  flaw  or  weakness  in  his  hero.  Yet,  by  some  subtle, 
inexplicable  alchemy,  everything  turns  to  Jackson's  credit; 
and  words  and  acts  which  might  have  been  used  by  others 
only  to  make  him  repulsive  and  ridiculous  serve  in  Henderson 
to  make  him  heroic  and  lovable. 

Finally,  the  psychographer  has  to  contend  with  another 
humiliating  difficulty,  the  indisposition  to  change  his  mind 
when  it  is  once  made  up.  You  labor  widely,  through 
thousands  of  dull  pages.  Gradually  your  picture  arranges 
itself  in  neat  order  and  correct  detail.  You  see  your  sub- 


APPENDIX  273 

ject  as  you  think  it  must  finally  stand.  Then  comes  some 
little  sentence  in  an  out-of-the-way  magazine,  or  some 
kindly  correspondent  reveals  a  flaw  you  could  not  have  dis 
covered,  and  large  readjustment  seems  to  be  indicated.  You 
are  ready  for  it  —  oh,  yes.  You  accept  it,  if  true  —  oh,  yes. 
But  it  is  surprising,  the  amount  of  ingenuity  you  expend 
in  convincing  yourself  that  it  is  not  true,  that  it  may  be  ex 
plained,  disputed,  adapted.  When  you  come  to  your  senses, 
you  laugh  at  yourself;  but  you  are  so  ready  to  do  the  same 
thing  again ! 

All  these  subjective  difficulties  beset  the  charming  art  of  the 
psychographer ;  but  the  objective  are  no  less,  perhaps  greater. 
Every  portrait  of  a  character  must  be  based  finally  upon  that 
character's  own  words  and  actions.  As  regards  actions,  it  is 
obvious  that  we  depend  entirely  upon  report,  and  little  study 
is  needed  to  make  it  plain  that  a  man's  own  report  is  unre 
liable  and  that  of  others  much  more  so.  The  reliability,  in 
deed,  varies.  Report  at  third  or  tenth  hand  by  incompetent 
witnesses  differs  considerably  in  quality  from  that  trans 
mitted  by  a  trained  observer  in  direct  contact.  But  this  lat 
ter  is  difficult  to  obtain  and  at  the  very  best  must  be  used  with 
caution.  A  man's  eyes  are  the  servants  of  his  mind  and  all 
minds  are  biased  to  some  degree.  Therefore  the  mass  of 
biographical  anecdote  and  reminiscence  has  to  be  sifted  and 
tested  by  numerous  almost  instinctive  criteria  before  it  can 
be  profitably  employed. 

When  it  comes  to  a  man's  words,  we  are  on  surer  ground ; 
that  is,  to  his  own  written  words;  for  words  reported  by 
others  belong  in  a  quite  different  category.  If  we  can  consult 
a  manuscript  as  it  was  actually  penned,  we  have  material 
which,  so  far  as  it  goes,  is  indisputable  and  invaluable.  Unfor 
tunately  this  is  in  all  cases  difficult,  in  many  impossible.  For 


274  APPENDIX 

the  most  part,  we  are  obliged  to  rely  on  a  printed  copy,  and 
printed  copies  are  very  far  from  being  verbal  facsimiles.  Even 
when  we  are  guaranteed  against  willful  omission  or  emenda 
tion  on  the  part  of  editors,  the  danger  of  error  is  by  no  means 
eliminated.  Printers  are  careless,  proof-readers  indifferent. 
No  text  of  historical  documents,  made  before  the  nineteenth 
century  learned  conscientiousness  in  such  matters,  is  to  be 
used  with  security,  and  few  since.  I  do  not  suppose  the  most 
scrupulous  historian  will  ever  again  consult  the  original 
records  of  the  Civil  War.  Probably  the  printed  copies  are  to 
be  implicitly  relied  on.  Yet  they  were  made  by  many  people 
and  passed  through  many  hands.  Who  knows? 

Take  one  very  trifling  yet  significant  instance  of  slight  verbal 
variation.  Jones,  Fitzhugh  Lee,  and  Captain  R.  E.  Lee  all 
reprint  the  important  letter  in  which  Lee  refers  to  the  capture 
of  Mason  and  Slidell,  and  they  all  print  differently  one  little 
word  which  might  have  quite  a  bearing  on  Lee's  instinctive 
mental  attitude  towards  his  old  allegiance.  Lee  assures  Mrs. 
Lee  that  the  United  States  will  not  go  to  war.  "Her  (R.  E.  L.) 
The  (Jones)  Our  (F.  Lee)  rulers  are  not  entirely  mad."  Which 
did  Lee  write?  None  of  the  three  quite  commends  itself, 
though  Captain  Lee's  text  is  probably  correct.  But  the  point 
is  that  each  editor  prints  his  own  version  with  placid  indiffer 
ence  and  not  a  hint  that  there  is  the  slightest  doubt  about  the 
matter.  A  trivial  thing,  you  say.  So  it  is.  But  an  inch  on  a 
man's  character  is  sometimes  prodigious,  and  it  is  precisely 
in  the  trivial  things  that  the  danger  lies.  Here  is  another  case 
of  the  mere  variation  of  a  letter.  In  his  eulogy  of  Lee,  B.  H. 
Hill  apparently  called  him  "a  man  without  guile,"  and  so  it 
stands  in  some  texts;  a  harmless  compliment,  surely.  But 
other  proof-readers  have  it  "a  man  without  guilt,"  and  this 
calls  down  upon  Hill  a  page  of  abuse  from  Rhett  in  the 


APPENDIX  275 

Southern  Magazine  for  daring  to  place  Lee  on  a  level  with 
Christ. 

If  we  cannot  trust  a  man's  own  written  words,  what  are  we 
to  do  about  words  attributed  to  him  by  others?  Generally 
speaking,  we  can  have  no  confidence  in  them  whatsoever.  If 
you  have  tried  at  a  half-hour's  interval  to  recall  the  exact 
form  of  some  speech  that  has  been  made  to  you,  you  know  the 
difficulty  and  how  apt  you  and  other  auditors  are  to  differ. 
Yet  in  these  matters  of  character  study  the  exact  form  is  some 
times  all-important.  Who  can  suppose  that  even  trained  and 
conscientious  observers  like  Boswell  or  the  Goncourts  really 
get  a  stenographical  report  of  the  long  conversations  which 
they  write  down  so  industriously  three  or  four  hours  after 
hearing  them?  And  if  not  they,  who?  Can  any  one  doubt 
that  these  reporters  unconsciously  arrange,  adapt,  and  supply 
words  and  phrases  which  they  know  to  be  generally  character 
istic  of  the  man,  but  which  may  never  have  been  uttered  in 
that  connection  and  which  the  speaker  would  disown?  An 
admirer  declared  that  the  Goncourt  conversations  "sweated 
authenticity."  But  Renan  at  least  energetically  disavowed 
his  share  in  them. 

The  ancient  historians,  Livy,  Tacitus,  even  Thucydides, 
have  been  abused  and  ridiculed  for  inventing  the  speeches  of 
great  historical  characters.  But  I  am  not  at  all  sure  that  a 
thinker  and  an  artist,  knowing  the  man  he  dealt  with,  and  the 
occasion,  and  the  substance  of  the  speech,  would  not  produce 
something  more  humanly  accurate  and  characteristic  than 
conies  from  many  a  stenographic  reporter  to-day. 

Sainte-Beuve  has  some  excellent  sentences  on  this  matter 
of  reported  speech.  "  I  must,  in  my  turn,  point  out,  that  from 
such  conversations,  reported  and  repeated  at  leisure,  even 
when  they  are  reproduced  with  the  utmost  sincerity,  we  can 


276  APPENDIX 

accept  only  the  significant  touch  and  the  general  drift.  As 
regards  the  details,  inexactitude  and  guesswork  always  enter 
in  more  or  less.  And,  moreover,  memory  is  a  great  adapter 
and  arranger  (la  memoire  aussi  est  une  arrangeuse)."  3 

In  estimating  the  value  of  words  attributed  to  a  historical 
character,  one  rule,  well  known  to  the  critics  of  classical  texts, 
is  often  useful ;  viz.,  that  among  several  doubtful  readings,  the 
least  intelligible,  the  least  smoothly  conventional,  is  the  most 
likely  to  be  correct.  For  example,  I  feel  sure  that  Lee's 
eulogy  on  Stuart,  ''He  never  brought  me  a  piece  of  false  in 
formation,"  reads  exactly  as  it  was  spoken ;  for  no  "arranging " 
memory  would  have  been  satisfied  with  a  turn  of  phrase  so 
baldly  inadequate. 

Even  when  there  is  a  reasonable  assurance  that  we  have  the 
actual  language  used,  how  seldom  do  we  get  all  the  meaning 
a  speaker  intended  to  convey.  Words  by  themselves  are  so 
little.  The  emphasis  is  so  much.  The  smile  or  gesture  is  so 
much.  No  reporter  succeeds  in  giving  us  these;  yet  how  far 
they  go  in  enhancing  or  diminishing  the  bare  significance  of 
speech. 

Nevertheless,  we  will  assume  that  we  start  from  an  exact 
knowledge  of  a  man's  words  and  actions.  Still,  we  are  only  on 
the  threshold,  only  lifting  the  latch  of  the  door  which  leads  to 
the  secret  of  his  character.  We  must  get  back  of  word  and 
action  to  the  motive  beneath.  The  deeper  one's  study,  the 
wider  one's  experience,  the  less  confidence  one  has  that  this 
can  be  done.  "  We  may  know  historical  facts  to  be  true,  as  we 
know  facts  in  common  life  to  be  true.  Motives  are  generally 
unknown,"  said  Dr.  Johnson.4  Different  actions  so  often 
spring  from  the  same  motive  and  the  same  action  from  differ 
ent  motives.  Ambition  does  the  deeds  of  loving  kindness  and 
haughtiness  of  humility.  Greed  sometimes  squanders  and 


APPENDIX  277 

charity  pinches  itself  and  those  it  loves.  Again  and  again  a 
man  fails  to  understand  his  own  motives,  even  when  he  tries 
to  disentangle  them,  errs  ludicrously  in  making  an  honest 
attempt  to  explain  them  in  warm  words  or  in  cold  print.  How, 
then,  can  we  ever  be  confident  of  penetrating  the  motives  of 
those  who  lived  years  ago,  with  different  habits  of  speech, 
different  habits  of  thought,  viewing  them  in  a  mirror  so 
uncertain  as  we  have  seen  the  records  of  the  past  to  be? 

Perhaps  I  may  be  permitted  another  illustration  from  the 
subject  which  has  most  recently  brought  all  these  questions 
to  my  mind.  General  Porter,  describing  Lee's  surrender,  says 
that  afterwards,  as  the  general  stood  on  the  porch  of  the 
McLean  house  waiting  for  his  horse,  he  struck  his  hands  to 
gether.  There  can  be  no  question  about  the  fact  here.  So 
good  an  observer  as  Porter  has  told  us  only  what  actually 
took  place.  I  have  followed  Porter  further  in  the  assumption 
that  the  motive  for  this  gesture  was  an  immense  despair.  But 
neither  Porter  nor  I  know  anything  about  it,  and  an  uncom 
fortable  suspicion  besets  me  that,  after  all,  Lee  may  have 
been  only  calling  for  his  horse. 

But  even  with  a  sure  knowledge  of  fact  and  an  unfailing 
insight  into  motive,  the  exact  portrayer  of  character  would 
still  have  a  wide,  uncharted  course  to  travel.  For  he  must 
finally  resort  to  general  terms.  His  subject  is  honest,  gener 
ous,  frank.  Well,  an  honest  man  is  one  who  does  nothing  that 
is  not  honest.  A  generous  man  does  only  what  is  generous.  A 
frank  man  always  speaks  the  truth.  In  other  words,  all  traits 
of  character  are  merely  generalizations  from  habitual  action 
and  motive ;  and  on  a  foundation  in  itself  utterly  unstable  we 
must  rear  an  edifice  as  shifting  and  fleeting  and  uncertain  as 
the  clouds  of  heaven.  When  Macaulay  says  of  Laud,  "his 
understanding  was  narrow  ...  he  was  by  nature  rash,  irri- 


278  APPENDIX 

table,  quick  to  feel  for  his  own  dignity,  slow  to  sympathize 
with  the  sufferings  of  others,"  5  we  get  a  vivid  impression 
which  stays  with  us,  but  which  may  have  been  wholly  borne 
out  by  the  facts,  or  mainly,  or  very  insufficiently.  When  Saint- 
Simon  says  of  La  Feuillade,  "I  don't  think  there  was  ever  a 
madder  head  or  a  man  more  radically  dishonest  to  the  very 
marrow  of  his  bones,"  6  we  feel  that  we  are  beholding  a  fellow 
creature  damned  beyond  the  limit  of  human  desert.  And 
the  weakness  of  all  such  soul  portrayal  is  admirably  shown 
in  one  of  Clarendon's  most  striking  specimens  of  it.  "He 
quickly  lost  the  character  of  a  bold,  stout,  magnanimous 
man,  which  he  had  been  long  reputed  to  be  in  worse  times; 
and,  in  his  most  prosperous  season,  fell  under  the  reproach  of 
being  a  man  of  big  looks,  and  of  a  mean  and  abject  spirit."  7 
We  see  suggested  here  how  slight  is  the  basis  of  all  our  moral 
generalizations  and  how  uncertain  is  the  interpretation  of 
motives  on  which  even  that  slight  basis  rests.  "There  is,"  says 
Sainte-Beuve,  "a  degree"  —  and  perhaps  we  may  conclude  a 
very  limited  degree  —  "of  intimacy  beyond  which  it  is  not 
given  to  man  to  advance  in  the  study  of  his  fellow  man! 
There  are  secrets  which  the  great  Anatomist  of  heart  keeps 
only  for  himself."  8  May  we  not  establish  one  final  test  of  a 
thorough  knowledge  of  character;  that  is,  the  prediction  of 
action  under  given  circumstances?  But  who  of  us  dares  often 
predict  with  any  certainty  the  action  of  others,  or  even  his 
own? 

If,  then,  the  portrayal  of  character  is  so  difficult  —  not  to 
say  impossible  —  why  persist  in  it  ?  First,  because,  largely  on 
account  of  this  very  difficulty,  it  is  the  most  fascinating  of 
human  pursuits.  The  naturalist  spends  long  days  or  months 
of  patient  toil  in  observing  the  habits  of  a  bird  or  an  insect.  Is 
not  the  human  soul  of  more  value  than  many  insects?  Also, 


APPENDIX  279 

with  birds  and  insects  the  naturalist  rarely  attempts  to  go 
beyond  the  species  or  concern  himself  with  the  individual. 
With  humanity  the  individual  is  endless  in  variety,  inex 
haustible  in  interest.  What  a  delight,  after  going  through 
pages  that  are  irrelevant  and  for  one's  purpose  unprofitable, 
to  find  some  sentence  that,  in  Sainte-Beuve's  phrase,  reveals 
"bare  soul " !  It  is  as  if  one  had  groped  for  hours  in  darkness 
and  then  suddenly  opened  a  little  window  into  bright  heaven. 
Such,  for  example,  is  the  careless  touch  in  Cavour's  letters, 
which  sums  up  a  whole  glorious  career,  and  stamps  the  eternal 
difference  between  the  founders  of  modern  Italy  and  modern 
Germany:  "  Je  suis  fils  de  la  Iibert6  et  c'est  a  elle  que  je  dois 
tout  ce  que  je  suis."  }  Some  writers,  as  Pepys,  are  studded 
thick  with  these  jewels  of  self -revelation.  But  perhaps  the 
pleasure  of  finding  them  is  even  greater  when  they  are  com 
paratively  rare,  as  with  Lee;  and  I  shall  not  soon  forget 
my  delight  in  the  reported  phrase,  "It  is  well  that  war  is 
so  terrible,  or  else  we  might  grow  too  fond  of  it,"  and  the 
written  one,  "She  is  like  her  papa  —  always  wanting  some 
thing." 

Moreover,  the  art  of  character  study  is  recommendable  not 
only  for  its  charm,  but  for  its  utility.  The  knowledge  of  birds 
and  insects  is  of  merely  indirect  advantage  to  us.  The  know 
ledge  of  men  and  women,  obscure,  imperfect,  incomplete  as 
it  necessarily  is,  profits  us  from  the  cradle  to  the  grave.  The 
infant,  hardly  able  to  speak,  learns  whom  it  can  wheedle,  and 
whom  not.  The  child,  but  little  older,  knows  very  well  that 
its  parent  forgives  a  fault  or  grants  a  privilege  more  readily 
after  dinner  than  before.  All  of  us  always  build  and  unbuild 
the  character  of  others,  observe,  divine,  detect,  use  instinct 
ively  every  little  indication  of  face,  of  tone,  of  gesture.  We 
often  blunder,  often  go  far  astray.  The  wisest  are  those  who 


28o  APPENDIX 

recognize  most  clearly  their  utter  lack  of  exact  knowledge  and 
most  frequently  exclaim,  — 

"Oh,  that  there  were  an  art 
To  read  the  mind's  character  in  the  face." 

Yet  they  persist,  because  they  must.  And  all  men  and  women 
are,  whether  they  know  it  or  not,  if  I  may  say  so,  mutual 
psy  chographers . 

For  this  purpose  of  mutual  self-knowledge  some  may  ques 
tion  whether  it  is  essential  or  desirable  to  choose  prominent 
figures  rather  than  the  man  in  the  street.  They  say,  it  is  not 
the  great  men,  who  are  remote  and  above  us,  who  help  us  to 
understand  ourselves,  but  those  who  have  lived  a  little  petty 
life  of  trifles  such  as  we  live. 

To  begin  with,  the  man  in  the  street  is  less  accessible.  He 
does  not  leave  letters  and  memoirs.  His  speech  and  actions 
are  not  jealously  observed  and  faithfully  recorded.  We  may 
study  him  for  our  own  profit,  daily,  as  we  can.  But  the  per 
manent  portrait  painter  must  look  further  afield  for  the 
material  with  which  to  work. 

Then,  men  who  have  lived  large  lives  and  filled  great  places 
bring  more  of  their  humanity  into  action.  A  violin  that  is 
played  on  in  only  one  small  portion  of  one  string  yields  us  far 
less  than  one  that  is  swept  broadly  from  end  to  end  of  its 
entire  compass.  A  man  who  for  forty  years  has  carried  the 
wide  world's  burdens  on  his  shoulders  may  not  have  finer 
natural  faculties  than  you  or  I,  but  at  least  he  has  brought 
every  faculty  into  use  with  all  the  might  he  has  in  him. 

In  other  words,  the  main  advantage  of  studying  great  men 
comes  not  because  they  are  great,  but  because  they  are  not 
great.  Carlyle  wished  to  exalt  a  few  choice  heroes  and  let  the 
rest  of  humanity  bow  down  to  them.  The  opposite  seems  to 


APPENDIX  281 

me  the  true  course,  to  insist  that  all  men  may  be  heroes  if  they 
will.  What  strikes  me  most  in  men  who  have  achieved  greatly 
is  not  their  difference  from  others  but  their  resemblance  to 
them.  They  are  in  all  points  tempted  as  we  are,  laugh  as  we, 
weep  as  we,  suffer  as  we,  fail  as  we,  and  for  the  most  part  are 
astonished  at  triumphing  as  much  as  we  should  be.  And  do 
not  urge  that  this  is  the  old  theory  of  "no  man  a  hero  to  his 
valet,"  and  that  in  applying  it  generally  I  am  only  display 
ing  a  most  valet-like  spirit.  I  hope  not.  For  it  is  not  my  aim 
to  debase  them,  but  to  exalt  us.  When  it  is  shown  that  great 
personages,  who  left  a  name  behind  them,  had  only  qualities 
like  ours,  often  defects  like  ours,  and  that  they  made  their 
greatness  perhaps  by  a  happy  balance  of  qualities  or  by  an 
extreme  development  of  some  particular  quality,  perhaps 
even  a  little  by  the  kindliness  of  fortune,  it  seems  to  me  that 
we  should  be  led  to  emphasize  rather  what  we  may  be  than 
what  they  were  not.  If  Lee  had  something  of  my  weakness, 
may  I  not  have  better  hope  of  attaining  something  of  Lee's 
nobleness? 

It  must  be  confessed  that  such  a  method  of  studying  heroic 
characters  depends  for  its  success  largely  upon  the  spirit  in 
which  it  is  carried  on.  It  may  easily  degenerate  into  the 
trivial,  the  gossiping,  or  even  the  scandalous.  The  distinc 
tion  between  what  is  humanly  significant  and  mere  gossip 
is  not  always  simple.  Even  mere  gossip  may  be  immensely 
amusing,  but  the  psychographer  is  concerned  only  with  that 
which  has  a  bearing  upon  character.  Thus,  if  my  neighbor's 
wife  falls  downstairs  and  breaks  a  leg,  I  may  be  civilly  sympa 
thetic,  but  I  shall  feel  no  scientific  interest.  But  if  she  runs 
away  with  the  coachman,  the  psychological  problem  attracts 
my  curiosity  at  once.  To  take  a  historical  instance.  Mrs. 
Chesnut,  in  her  invaluable  Diary,  tells  a  long  story  of  a 


282  APPENDIX 

colored  waiter  who  was  convulsed  by  the  blank  baldness  of 
Joe  Johnston.  This  is  entertaining,  but  it  shows  me  nothing 
of  Johnston's  character.  On  the  other  hand,  she  remarks,  in 
one  brief  sentence,  that  Johnston  spent  an  afternoon  enlarging 
to  her  and  a  friend  on  Lee's  and  Jackson's  mistakes.  Here  we 
have  a  revelation. 

Still,  the  border  line  between  psychography  and  gossip  is 
easy  to  cross,  especially  when  the  psychographer  is  unkindly. 
Indeed,  the  art,  to  have  its  richest  usefulness,  should  be  based 
upon  love.  Our  observer  of  birds  and  insects  almost  always 
loves  them  with  a  personal  tenderness.  Much  more,  I  think, 
will  the  observer  of  men  gain  by  loving  them.  To  be  sure, 
there  have  been  great  observers  who  seem  to  have  hated.  But 
the  very  wisest,  richest,  deepest  —  Sophocles,  Shakespeare, 
Cervantes  —  have  always  loved ;  sometimes  laughed  a  little, 
teased  a  little,  mocked  a  little,  but  loved  always.  Humanity 
has  been  to  them  a  strange  thing,  a  pitiable  thing,  sometimes 
a  deplorable  thing ;  but  even  in  its  lowest  vice  and  degrada 
tion,  as  in  its  height  and  grandeur,  lovable,  because  they 
themselves  were  human. 

It  is  in  this  point  of  love  that  Sainte-Beuve  is  weakest.  He 
prided  himself  on  understanding  everything  (le  pere  Beuve 
avec  son  touchant  desir  de  tout  comprendre)  and  I  think  a 
little  on  loving  nothing.  Therefore  his  very  subtlest  work  is 
sometimes  bitter,  and  bitterness  is  no  help  to  psychography 
or  to  anything  else. 

It  is  an  advantage  to  have  a  subject  like  Lee  that  one  cannot 
help  loving.  I  say,  cannot  help.  The  language  of  some  of  his 
adorers  tends  at  first  to  breed  a  feeling  contrary  to  love.  Per 
sist  and  make  your  way  through  this  and  you  will  find  a  hu 
man  being  as  lovable  as  any  that  ever  lived.  At  least  I  have. 
I  have  loved  him,  and  I  may  say  that  his  influence  upon  my 


APPENDIX  283 

own  life,  though  I  came  to  him  late,  has  been  as  deep  and  as 
inspiring  as  any  I  have  ever  known.  If  I  convey  but  a  little  of 
that  influence  to  others  who  will  feel  it  as  I  have,  I  shall  be 
more  than  satisfied. 


NOTES 


TITLES   OF   BOOKS   MOST   FREQUENTLY 
CITED,   SHOWING  ABBREVIATIONS   USED 


Battles  and  Leaders  of  the  Civil  War. 

COOKE,  JOHN  ESTEN,  Life  of  General  Robert  E.  Lee. 

DABNEY,  R.  L.,  Life  and  Campaigns  of  General 

T.  J.  Jackson. 
DAVIS,  JEFFERSON,  Rise  and  Fall  of  the  Confederate 

Government. 

DAVIS,  VARINA  HOWELL,  Jefferson  Davis. 
HENDERSON,  G.  F.  R.,  Stonewall  Jackson  and  the 

American  Civil  War. 
JACKSON,  MARY  A.,  Life  and  Letters  of  General 

T.  J.  Jackson. 

JONES,  J.  B.,  A  Rebel  War  Clerk's  Diary. 
JONES,  J.  W.,  Life  and  Letters  of  General  Robert 

E.  Lee. 
JONES,  J.  W.,  Personal  Reminiscences,  Anecdotes, 

and  Letters  of  General  Robert  E.  Lee. 
LEE,  FITZHUGH,  General  Lee. 
LEE,  R.  E.,  Recollections  and  Letters  of  General 

Robert  E.  Lee. 

LONG,  A.  L.,  Memoirs  of  Robert  E.  Lee. 
MASON,  E.  V.,  Popular  Life    of  General  Robert 

E.  Lee. 
McCABE,  J.  D.,  Life  and  Campaigns  of  General 

Robert  E.  Lee. 

MILITARY   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY   OF   MASSACHU 
SETTS,  Publications. 
Official  Records  of  the  Union  and  Confederate  Armies 

(quoted  by  serial  nos.  throughout). 
POLLARD,  E.  A.,  Life  of  Jefferson  Davis. 
POLLARD,  E.  A.,  The  Lost  Cause. 
RHODES,  J.  F.,  A  History  of  the  United  States,  from 

the  Compromise  of  1850. 
Southern  Historical  Society  Papers. 
WHITE,  H.  A.,  Robert  E.  Lee  and  the  Southern 

Confederacy. 
WOOD,  W.  B.,  and  EDMUNDS,  J.  E.,  History  of  the 

Civil  War  in  the  United  States. 


Battles  and  Leaders. 
Cooke. 

Dabney. 

Rise  and  Fall. 
Mrs.  Davis. 

Henderson. 

Mrs.  Jackson. 
Jones,  Diary. 

Jones,  Life. 

Jones,  Rem. 
F.  Lee. 

R.  E.  L. 
Long. 

Mason. 
McCabe. 
M.H.S.of  M. 

O.R. 

Pollard,  Davis. 
Pollard,  L.  C. 

Rhodes,  U.  S. 
S.  H.  S.  P. 

White. 

Wood  and  Edmunds. 


NOTES 

CHAPTER    I 

1.  For  an  exhaustive  discussion  of  the  Lee  genealogy,  see  Lee  of  Vir 
ginia,  by  Edmund  Lee.    (Philadelphia,  1895.) 

2.  S.  H.  S.  P.,  vol.  ix,  p.  198. 

3.  F.  Lee,  p.  2.   In  his  memoir  of  his  father,  however,  the  general  goes 
quite  extensively  into  the  English  affiliations. 

4.  Jones,  Life,  p.  33. 

5.  To  Mrs.  Lee,  in  F.  Lee,  p.  22. 

6.  Works  (ed.  Ford),  vol.  x,  p.  222. 

7.  Jones,  Life,  p.  154. 

8.  Long,  p.  23. 

9.  Charles  Lee,  quoted  in  Lee's  memoir  of  his  father,  p.  29. 

10.  Long,  p.  19. 

11.  Jones,  Rem.,  p.  118. 

12.  G.  M.  Sorrel,  Recollections  of  a  Confederate  Staff  Officer,  p.  74. 

13.  Manassas  to  Appomattox,  p.  287. 

14.  Mason,  p.  24. 

15.  To  Cabell,  November,  1820,  Works  (ed.  Ford),  vol.  x,  p.  165. 

1 6.  Writer  in  Putnam's  Monthly,  quoted  in  Olmsted,  Journey  to  the 
Seaboard  Slave  States,  p.  245. 

17.  Ibid. 

1 8.  Jones,  Life,  p.  24. 

19.  Jones,  Life,  p.  27. 

20.  John  Quincy  Adams,  Diary,  vol.  vn,  p.  209. 

21.  Thomas  Nelson  Page,  The  Old  South,  p.  184. 

22.  Journey  to  the  Seaboard  Slave  States,  p.  247. 

23.  Long,  p.  33. 

24.  Jones,  Rem.,  p.  291. 

25.  Jones,  Rem.,  p.  290. 

26.  Testimony  at  Pillow  Inquiry,  Senate  Doc.,  30th  Congress,  First 
Session,  vol.  VIH,  p.  73. 

27.  Report  in  Senate  Doc.  as  above,  vol.  I,  p.  332. 

28.  Report  in  Senate  Doc.  as  above,  vol.  I,  p.  306. 

29.  Report  in  Senate  Doc.  as  above,  vol.  I,  p.  315. 

30.  Long,  p.  61. 

31.  Ibid. 

32.  Colonel  Preston,  direct  from  Scott,  in  "Lee  Memorial  Address," 


288  NOTES 

printed  in  Mason,  p.  382.  I  find  in  F.  Grasset's  La  Guerre  de  la  Secession, 
vol.  ii,  p.  59,  a  saying  attributed  to  Scott,  which  I  have  not  been  able  to 
trace  to  an  American  source,  but  which,  if  not  a  prophecy  manufactured 
after  the  event,  has  a  good  deal  of  interest:  " Defiez-vous  de  Lee  quand  il 
avance  et  de  Johnston  lor squ'il  recule,  car  le  diable  lui-mtme  se  ferait  battre, 
s'il  hs  attaquait  dans  ces  conditions." 

33.  Senate  Doc.  as  above,  vol.  I,  p.  337. 

34.  Senate  Doc.  as  above,  vol.  I,  p.  344. 

35.  Senate  Doc.  as  above,  vol.  I,  p.  404. 

36.  Jones,  Life,  p.  32. 

37.  Jones,  Life,  p.  54. 

38.  Jones,  Life,  p.  54. 

39.  Jones,  Life,  p.  56. 

40.  Jones,  Life,  p.  57. 

41.  Mrs.  Davis,  vol.  I,  p.  413. 

42.  White,  p.  47. 

43.  White,  p.  48. 

44.  C.  C.  Chesney,  A  Military  View  of  the  Recent  Campaigns  in  Vir 
ginia  and  Maryland,  p.  50. 

45.  R.  E.  L.,  p.  13. 

46.  Jones,  Life,  p.  84. 

47.  Jones,  Life,  p.  92. 

48.  Jones,  Life,  p.  113. 

49.  Mason,  p.  58. 

50.  Jones,  Life,  p.  116. 

51.  Jones,  Life,  p.  105. 

52.  Reports  of  Committees,  36th  Congress,  First  Session,  no.  278,  p.  42. 

53.  R.  E.  L.,  p.  19. 

54.  Ed.  Keyes,  Fifty  Years1  Observation  of  Men  and  Events,  p.  204. 

55.  Colonel  Venable,  in  Battles  and  Leaders,  vol.  iv,  p.  242. 

56.  White,  p.  31. 

57.  White,  p.  32. 

58.  Mason,  p.  381. 

59.  Jones,  Life,  p.  71. 

60.  J.  S.  Wise,  The  End  of  an  Era,  p.  342. 

61.  Jones,  Life,  p.  135. 


NOTES  289 


CHAPTER   II 

1.  J.  K.  Hosmer,  The  Appeal  to  Arms,  p.  29. 

2.  Long,  p.  27. 

3.  Long,  p.  29. 

4.  U.  S.t  vol.  in,  p.  413. 

5.  Jones,  Life,  p.  437. 

6.  Mrs.  Pickett,  in  Lippincott's  Magazine,  vol.  79,  p.  52. 

7.  Jones,  Life,  p.  118. 

8.  F.  Lee,  p.  84. 

9.  To  Reverdy  Johnson,  F.  Lee,  p.  85. 

10.  Ibid. 

11.  Long,  p.  92. 

12.  Long,  p.  94. 

13.  E.  Townsend,  Anecdotes  of  the  Civil  War,  p.  29. 

14.  F.  Lee,  p.  94. 

15.  Jones,  Life,  p.  162. 

16.  Senator  Culberson  calls  my  attention  to  another  error  in  Townsend's 
narrative.  He  says  Lee  was  "on  leave"  at  Arlington.   Investigation  of  the 
War  Office  records  does  not  bear  out  this  statement,  but  shows  rather  that 
he  was  awaiting  orders. 

17.  F.  Lee,  p.  88. 

1 8.  Grandson  of  Rawle  to  Deering,  in  J.  R.  Deering,  Lee  and  his  Cause, 
P- 37- 

19.  See  General  J.  W.  Latta's  pamphlet,  Was  Secession  taught  at  West 
Point  ?  Also  the  Century  Magazine  for  August,  1909. 

20.  William  Rawle,  A  View  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  of 
America,  1825,  p.  289. 

21.  Works,  Sparks,  vol.  IX,  p.  119. 

22.  Jones,  Life,  p.  121. 

23.  Reports  of  House  Committees,  39th  Congress,  vol.  n,  pt.  n,  p.  136. 

24.  Jones,  Life,  p.  130. 

25.  Jones,  Life,  p.  125. 

26.  Longstreet,  From  Manassas  to  Appomattox,  p.  29. 

27.  Page  19. 

28.  Outlook,  vol.  74,  p.  888. 

29.  Letter  in  Jones,  Rem.,  p.  218. 

30.  0.  R.,  vol.  96,  p.  1230. 

31.  John  B.  Gordon,  Reminiscences  of  the  Civil  War,  p.  434. 

32.  See  Rhodes,  U.  5.,  vol.  v,  p.  71. 

33.  To  Gilman,  December,  1860,  in  Rhodes,  U.  S.,  vol.  in,  p.  161. 

34.  R.  E.  L.,  p.  168. 


290  NOTES 

35.  R.  E.  L.,  p.  306. 

36.  0.  R.,  vol.  129,  p.  1012. 

37.  Jones,  Life,  p.  83. 

38.  New  York  Herald  reporter,  quoted  in  Avary,  Dixie  after  the  War, 
p.  71- 

39.  Mixed  Essays  (New  York,  1883),  "  Falkland,"  p.  170. 

40.  Burke's  Works  (Bohn  ed.),  vol.  I,  p.  467. 

41.  Jones,  Life,  p.  132. 

42.  0.  R.,  vol.  6,  p.  43. 

43.  0.  R.,  vol.  31,  p.  1086. 

44.  Long,  p.  485. 

45.  0.  R.,  vol.  5,  p.  192. 

46.  O.  R.,  vol.  5,  p.  785. 

47.  0.  R.,  vol.  31,  p.  556. 

48.  Jones,  Life,  p.  376. 

49.  R.  E.  L.,  p.  225. 

50.  Quoted  verbally  in  S.  H.  S.  P.,  vol.  XI,  p.  360. 

51.  Jones,  Life,  p.  436. 

52.  Quoted  in  S.  H.  S.  P.,  vol.  XI,  p.  360. 

53.  Jones,  Life,  p.  140. 


NOTES  291 


CHAPTER   III 

1.  J.  J.  Craven,  The  Prison  Life  of  Jefferson  Davis,  p.  283. 

2.  Davis  Memorial  Volume,  p.  387. 

3.  Mrs.  Davis,  vol.  I,  p.  580. 

4.  S.  H.  S.  P.,  vol.  xxiv,  p.  372. 

5.  Mrs.  Davis,  in  P.  Butler's  Judah  P.  Benjamin,  p.  332. 

6.  Mrs.  Davis,  vol.  I,  p.  356. 

7.  Mrs.  Davis,  vol.  n,  p.  163.. 

8.  Mrs.  Davis,  vol.  n,  p.  163. 

9.  Pollard,  Davis,  p.  126;  also  Mrs.  J.  Chesnut,  A  Diary  from  Dixie, 
p.  318- 

10.  Pollard,  Davis,  p.  222. 
u.  Mrs.  Davis,  vol.  n,  p.  155. 

12.  Mrs.  Davis,  vol.  I,  p.  178. 

13.  Mrs.  Davis,  vol.  I,  p.  78. 

14.  Quoted  in  Rhodes,  U.  S.,  vol.  in,  p.  459. 

15.  Jones,  Diary,  vol.  n,  p.  205. 

1 6.  Davis  Memorial  Volume,  p.  41. 

17.  Pollard,  Davis,  p.  231. 

18.  0.  R.,  vol.  40,  p.  726. 

19.  0.  R,,  vol.  28,  p.  600. 

20.  0.  R.,  vol.  31,  p.  1029. 

21.  Ibid. 

22.  0.  R.,  vol.  40,  p.  810. 

23.  Story  of  the  Civil  War,  vol.  I,  p.  131. 

24.  Battles  and  Leaders,  vol.  in,  p.  711. 

25.  0.  R.,  vol.  26,  p.  1083. 

26.  Mrs.  Davis,  vol.  u,  p.  393. 

27.  Cecil  Battine,  The  Crisis  of  the  Confederacy,  p.  no. 

28.  Henderson,  vol.  u,  p.  601. 

29.  0.  R.,  vol.  108,  p.  752. 

30.  0.  R.,  vol.  108,  p.  741. 

31.  Meigs,  in  Long,  p.  44. 

32.  Rise  and  Fall,  vol.  n,  p.  133. 

33.  0.  R.,  vol.  14,  p.  635. 

34.  0.  R.,  vol.  28,  p.  619. 

35.  John  J.  Craven,  The  Prison  Life  of  Jefferson  Davis,  p.  106. 

36.  0.  R.,  vol.  28,  p.  600. 

37.  0.  R.,  vol.  45,  p.  881. 

38.  Long,  p.  587. 

39.  0.  R.,  vol.  28,  p.  644. 


292  NOTES 

40.  0.  R.,  vol.  129,  p.  247. 

41.  0.  R.,  vol.  96,  p.  1256. 

42.  0.  R.t  vol.  89,  p.  1213. 

43.  Ibid. 

44.  Jones,  Life,  p.  152. 

45.  John  J.  Craven,  The  Prison  Life  of  Jefferson  Davis,  p.  322. 

46.  Rise  and  Fall,  vol.  n,  p.  152. 

47.  Diary,  vol.  I,  p.  121. 

48.  Mrs.  Davis,  vol.  n,  p.  320. 

49.  O.  R.,  vol.  28,  p.  634. 

50.  Quoted  in  R.  E.  L.,  p.  53. 

51.  Jones,  Rem.,  p.  340. 

52.  R.  E.  L.,  p.  220. 

53.  R.  E.  L.,  p.  268. 

54.  Long,  p.  266. 

55.  J.  B.  Gordon,  Reminiscences  of  the  Civil  War,  p.  393. 

56.  Examiner,  August  5,  1863. 

57.  Quoted  in  Mrs.  Chesnut,  A  Diary  from  Dixie,  p.  162. 

58.  Diary,  p.  151. 

59.  0.  R.,  vol.  no,  p.  808. 

60.  Quoted  in  Pollard,  Davis,  p.  446. 

61.  Diary,  January  I,  1865. 

62.  A.  B.  Hart,  Essays  on  American  Government,  p.  283. 

63.  A  Diary  from  Dixie,  p.  108. 

64.  Diary,  vol.  I,  p.  189. 

65.  Diary,  January  I,  1865. 

66.  A  Diary  from  Dixie,  p.  108. 

67.  Cf.  Southern  Review,  July,  1867. 

68.  New  York  Tribune,  April  14,  1860,  in  Rhodes,  U.  S. 

69.  Mrs.  Davis,  vol.  I,  p.  191. 

70.  Davis  Memorial  Volume,  p.  205. 

71.  Mrs.  Davis,  vol.  n,  p.  163. 

72.  Mrs.  Davis,  vol.  n,  p.  923. 

73.  Pollard,  Davis,  p.  437. 

74.  0.  R.,  vol.  96,  p.  1199. 

75.  R.  E.  L.,  p.  287. 

76.  Davis,  in  S.  H.  S.  P.,  vol.  17,  p.  372. 


NOTES  293 


CHAPTER  IV 

1.  Jones,  Life,  p.  135.   Differently  worded  in  R.  E.  L.,  p.  28. 

2.  Quoted  in  Jones,  Life,  p.  136. 

3.  C.  C.  Greville,  Journals  of  the  Reign  of  Queen  Victoria  (Am.  ed.), 
vol.  i,  p.  509. 

4.  Saunders,  in  R.  E.  L.,  p.  231. 

5.  F.  Lee,  p.  408. 

6.  Reports  of  Committees,  39th  Congress,  vol.  n,  pt.  n,  p.  129. 

7.  See  0.  R.,  vol.  120,  pp.  1010,  1018. 

8.  O.  R.,  vol.  13,  p.  936. 

9.  0.  R.,  vol.  14,  p.  636. 

10.  Jones,  Life,  p.  292. 

11.  O.  R.,  vol.  60,  p.  1279. 

12.  Jones,  Life,  p.  226. 

13.  Jones,  Life,  p.  331. 

14.  0.  R.,  vol.  40,  p.  687. 

15.  0.  R.,  vol.  96,  p.  1143. 

16.  G.  C.  Eggleston,  A  Rebel's  Recollections,  p.  214. 

17.  Jones,  Diary,  vol.  I,  p.  135. 

1 8.  0.  R.,  cited  in  J.  C.  Schwab,  The  Confederate  States  of  America, 
p.  262. 

19.  0.  R.,  in  Schwab,  p.  92. 

20.  O.  R.,  vol.  129,  p.  257. 

21.  Pollard. 

22.  Quoted  by  General  Mosby,  in  S.  H.  S.  P.,  vol.  xxvil,  p.  317. 

23.  Jones,  Life,  p.  279. 

24.  Correspondance  de  Napoleon,  vol.  xvi,  p.  560. 

25.  Jones,  Life,  p.  227. 

26.  O,  R.,  vol.  129,  p.  1012. 

27.  In  Richmond  Examiner,  February  16,  1865. 

28.  Ibid. 

29.  Richmond  Examiner,  January  5,  1865. 

30.  Pollard,  L.  C.,  p.  655. 

31.  January  I,  1865. 

32.  Sherman,  Memoirs,  vol.  n,  p.  224. 

33.  April  21,  1887. 

34.  See  page  30. 

35.  Pollard,  L.  C.,  p.  655. 

36.  Pollard,  L.  C.,  p.  429. 

37.  Ibid. 

38.  Quoted  in  Jones,  Rem.,  p.  341. 


294  NOTES 

39.  0.  R.,  vol.  19,  p.  523. 

40.  Volume  xi,  p.  523. 

41.  Galaxy,  vol.  xii,  p.  628. 

42.  Jones,  Life,  p.  84. 

43.  Cited  in  Cooke,  p.  476. 

44.  J.  Scheibert,  Der  Burgerkrieg  in  den  nordamerikanischen  Staaten, 
P.  39- 

45.  0.  R.,  vol.  108,  p.  738. 

46.  Long,  p.  454. 

47.  Towards  the  end  of  the  war  disaffected  persons  in  the  South  began 
to  see  the  prospect  more  clearly.  The  Augusta  Chronicle  for  March  3,  1864, 
copies  from  the  Richmond  Whig  the  following  statement  of  principles  of 
the  peace  party  in  Georgia:  "  It  is  contended  that  two  rival  Confederacies, 
each  with  a  standing  army,  cannot  exist  side  by  side  on  this  continent; 
that  constant  wars  will  occur  and  one  eventually  absorb  the  other.    It  is 
contended  that  a  sectionally  consolidated  South  will  necessitate  a  similarly 
consolidated  North,  and  that  the  two  armed  powers,  acting  and  reacting 
upon  each  other,  will  produce  endless  strife  and  bloodshed." 

48.  Pollard,  Davis,  p.  426. 

49.  Jones,  Life,  p.  121. 

50.  Ibid. 

51.  0.  R.,  vol.  6,  p.  350. 

52.  Bishop  Wilmer,  in  Memorial  Address,  printed  in  Jones,  Life,  p.  438. 

53.  0.  R.,  vol.  45,  p.  880. 

54.  Jones,  Life,  p.  249. 

55.  0.  R.,  vol  99,  p.  1270. 

56.  A  Diary  from  Dixie,  p.  373. 

57.  R.  E.  L.,  p.  65. 

58.  Collyar,  in  The  Confederate  Veteran,  vol.  I,  p.  324. 

59.  S.  H.  S.  P.,  vol.  iv,  p.  309. 

60.  New  York  Herald  reporter  in  M.  L.  Avary,  Dixie  after  the  War,  p.  71. 

61.  Quoted  by  Mrs.  Roger  A  Pryor,  Reminiscences  of  War  and  Peace, 
p.  358. 

62.  C.  F.  Adams,  The  Confederacy  and  the  Transvaal. 

63.  J.  S.  Wise,  The  End  of  an  Era,  p.  344. 

64.  Jones,  Life,  p.  372. 

65.  R.  E.  L.,  p.  163. 

66.  R.  E.  L.,  p.  410. 

67.  Jones,  Life,  p.  387. 

68.  E.  L.  Childe,  Life  and  Campaigns  of  General  Lee  (trans,  from 
French),  p.  331. 


NOTES  295 


CHAPTER  V 

1.  General  Palfrey,  in  M.  H.  S.  of  M.,  vol.  I,  p.  220. 

2.  0.  R.,  vol.  17,  p.  919. 

3.  To  Northrop,  0.  R.,  vol.  60,  p.  1065. 

4.  Marshall,  in  R.  E.  L.,  p.  119. 

5.  Quoted  in  F.  Lee,  p.  364. 

6.  0.  R.,  vol.  48,  p.  408. 

7.  0.  R.,  vol.  28,  p.  722. 

8.  Mangold,  in  S.  H.  S.  P.,  vol.  n,  p.  65. 

9.  S.  H.  S.  P.,  vol.  xvn,  p.  37. 

10.  0.  R.,  vol.  108,  p.  994. 

11.  Before  Committee  on  the  Conduct  of  the  War,  quoted  in  Jones, 
Rem.,  p.  28. 

12.  Long,  p.  1 66  (from  diary). 

13.  Scheibert,  Der  Burgerkrieg  in  den  nordamerikanischen  Staaten,  p.  42. 

14.  0.  R.,  vol.  2,  p.  828. 

15.  Diary  of  Cobb,  in  5.  H.  S.  P.,  vol.  XXVIII,  p.  295. 

16.  0.  R.,  vol.  29,  p.  722. 

17.  As  to  brutality,  Lee  is  reported  to  have  said  to  a  soldier  who  was 
abusing  some  captured  negroes:  "If  I  ever  hear  of  your  mistreating  a 
prisoner  again,  be  he  as  black  as  Erebus,  I  will  hang  you  to  the  nearest 
tree."  Judge  D.  G.  Tyler,  Lee  Birthday  Address,  191 1,  p.  6.  But  the  naked 
energy  of  this  phraseology  does  not  sound  like  Lee. 

18.  0.  R.,  vol.  49,  p.  807. 

19.  O.  R.,  vol.  40,  p.  844. 

20.  0.  R.,  vol.  10,  p.  303. 

21.  G.  M.  Sorrel,  Recollections  of  a  Confederate  Staff  Officer,  p.  279. 

22.  0.  R.,  VOl.  89,  p.   1268. 

23.  0.  R.,  vol.  96,  p.  1276. 

24.  Battles  and  Leaders,  vol.  II,  p.  666. 

25.  0.  R.,  vol.  40,  p.  792. 

26.  S.  H.  S.  P.,  vol.  n,  p.  65. 

27.  McCabe,  p.  602. 

28.  D.  H.  Maury,  Recollections  of  a  Virginian  in  the  Mexican,  Indian, 
and  Civil  Wars,  p.  238. 

29.  In  Harper's  Magazine,  February,  1911. 

30.  Jones,  Life,  p.  455. 

31.  S.  H.  S.  P.,  vol.  xxm,  p.  208. 

32.  G.  C.  Eggleston,  A  Rebel's  Recollections,  p.  52. 

33.  0.  R.,  vol.  40,  p.  820. 

34.  R.  Stiles,  Four  Years  under  Marse  Robert,  p.  20. 


296  NOTES 

35.  Long,  p.  102. 

36.  0.  R.,  vol.  108,  p.  994. 

37.  Ibid. 

38.  Jones,  Rem.,  p.  185. 

39.  O.  R.,  vol.  2,  p.  837. 

40.  R.  Stiles,  Four  Years  under  Marse  Robert,  p.  264. 

41.  O.  R.,  vol.  5,  p.  868. 

42.  G.  M.  Sorrel,  Recollections  of  a  Confederate  Staff  Officer,  p.  88. 

43.  Jones,  Life,  p.  267. 

44.  Long,  p.  229. 

45.  Long,  p.  278. 

46.  Long,  p.  301. 

47.  O.  R.,  vol.  108,  p.  994. 

48.  Henderson,  vol.  I,  p.  537. 

49.  Battles  and  Leaders,  vol.  iv,  p.  240. 

50.  Ibid. 

51.  September  16. 

52.  Mrs.  Pickett,  in  Lippincotf  s  Mazagine,  vol.  LXXIX,  p.  55. 

53.  Jones,  Rem.,  p.  162. 

54.  Ibid. 

55.  G.  M.  Sorrel.  Recollections  of  a  Confederate  Staff  Officer,  p.  182. 

56.  Cooke,  p.  368. 

57.  Jones,  Rem.,  p.  232. 

58.  McCormick,  in  the  Outlook,  vol.  LVI,  p.  684. 

59.  Jones,  Rem.,  p.  237. 

60.  O.  R.,  vol.  108,  p.  994. 

61.  Long,  p.  227. 

62.  W.  H.  Taylor,  Four  Years  with  General  Lee,  p.  141. 

63.  Ibid. 

64.  Confederate  Veteran,  vol.  vi,  p.  12. 

65.  A.  L.  Fremantle,  Three  Months  in  the  Southern  States,  p.  276. 

66.  Quoted  in  G.  M.  Sorrel,  Recollections  of  a  Confederate  Staff  Officer, 

P-  307- 

67.  E.  P.  Alexander,  Military  Memoirs  of  a  Confederate,  p.  154. 

68.  0.  R.,  vol.  6,  p.  366. 

69.  0.  R.,  vol.  26,  p.  847. 

70.  0.  R.,  vol.  69,  p.  896. 

71.  Long,  p.  626. 

72.  G.  C.  Eggleston,  A  Rebel's  Recollections,  p.  145.  Mr.  Allen  C.  Red 
wood  writes  me  of  similar  impressions:  "I  cannot  recollect  ever  having 
heard  the  men  cheer  General  Lee.   They  would  stand  quietly  and  as  he 
passed  by  their  lines  take  off  their  hats,  and  stand  looking  at  him  with  the 
greatest  veneration." 


NOTES  297 

73.  Examiner,  August  19,  1864. 

74.  Charles  Marshall,  quoted  in  R.  E.  L.,  p.  138. 

75.  E.  P.  Alexander,  Military  Memoirs  of  a  Confederate,  p.  504. 

76.  Napier,  A  History  of  the  Peninsula  War,  vol.  v,  p.  250. 

77.  Jones,  Rem.,  p.  161. 

78.  O.  R.,  vol.  28,  p.  597. 

79.  To  Hood,  in  Jones,  Life,  p.  247. 

80.  Jones,  Rem.,  p.  400. 


298  NOTES 


CHAPTER  VI 

1.  Quoted  in  Cooke,  p.  353. 

2.  Henderson,  vol.  n,  p.  88. 

3.  Dabney,  vol.  I,  p.  62. 

4.  Mrs.  Jackson,  p.  47. 

5.  Mrs.  Jackson,  p.  70. 

6.  Mrs.  Jackson,  p.  57. 

7.  E.  P.  Allan,  Life  and  Letters  of  M.  J.  Preston,  p.  83. 

8.  Dabney,  vol.  n,  p.  521. 

9.  Dabney,  vol.  n,  p.  522. 

10.  Mrs.  Jackson,  p.  43. 

11.  Cooke,  p.  248. 

12.  Cooke,  p.  355. 

13.  Mrs.  Jackson,  p.  54. 

14.  F.  Lee,  p.  142. 

15.  Henderson,  vol.  I,  p.  46. 

16.  E.  P.  Allan,  Life  and  Letters  of  M.  J.  Preston,  p.  80. 

17.  Cooke,  p.  275. 

18.  Mrs.  Jackson,  p.  68. 

19.  Mrs.  Jackson,  p.  63. 

20.  Mrs.  Jackson,  p.  75. 

21.  Mrs.  Jackson,  p.  69. 

22.  Mrs.  Jackson,  p.  249. 

23.  0.  R.,  vol.  2,  825. 

24.  Mrs.  Jackson,  p.  237. 

25.  Dabney,  vol.  n,  p.  346. 

26.  Mrs.  Jackson,  p.  310. 

27.  McGuire,  in  Henderson,  vol.  II,  p.  401. 

28.  Dabney,  vol.  n,  p.  130. 

29.  Henderson,  vol.  n,  p.  589. 

30.  To  Mrs.  Jackson,  in  Dabney,  vol.  I,  p.  213. 

31.  Jones,  Life,  p.  71. 

32.  McGuire,  in  Mrs.  Jackson,  p.  452. 

33.  Jones,  Life,  p.  240. 

34.  Dabney,  vol.  n.  p.  637. 

35.  Dabney,  vol.  I,  p.  335. 

36.  Mrs.  Jackson,  p.  313. 

37.  Dabney,  in  Henderson,  vol.  n,  p.  95. 

38.  Cooke,  p.  212. 

39.  Jackson's  constant  devotion  to  the  study  of  everything  connected 
with  Napoleon  gives  a  certain  plausibility  to  Grasset's  assertion  (Guerre  de 


NOTES  299 

la  Secession,  vol.  n,  p.  95)  that  this  saying  was  taken  from  one  of  Kleber's  in 
regard  to  the  great  emperor. 

40.  R.  E.  L.,  p.  94. 

41.  Mrs.  Jackson,  p.  394. 

42.  Lee  to  Davis,  0.  R.,  vol.  27,  p.  643. 

43.  G.  C.  Eggleston,  A  Rebel's  Recollections,  p.  153. 

44.  0.  R.,  vol.  17,  p.  910. 

45.  Jones,  Life,  p.  237. 

46.  Lawley,  in  Henderson,  vol.  II,  p.  58. 

47.  R.  E.L.,p.94. 

48.  Dabney,  vol.  II,  p.  507. 

49.  Cooke,  p.  440. 

50.  0.  R.,  vol.  18,  p.  926. 

51.  0.  R.,  vol.  18,  p.  878. 

52.  0.  R.,  vol.  18,  p.  919. 

53.  Henderson,  vol.  II,  p.  142. 

54.  0.  R.,  vol.  31,  p.  1044. 

55.  0.  R.,  vol.  2,  p.  814. 

56.  D.  H.  Hill,  in  Battles  and  Leaders,  vol.  n,  p.  390. 

57.  Ibid. 

58.  0.  R.,  vol.  40,  p.  647. 

59.  Mrs.  Jackson,  p.  234. 

60.  Henderson,  vol.  I,  p.  197. 

61.  Quoted  in  Mrs.  Jackson,  p.  204. 

62.  Cooke,  p.  459. 

63.  McGuire,  in  Henderson,  vol.  II,  p.  71. 

64.  F.  Lee,  p.  142. 

65.  Dabney,  letter  in  Henderson,  vol.  II,  p.  88. 

66.  Cooke,  p.  205  (not  verbal). 

67.  Henderson,  vol.  II,  p.  453. 

68.  Cooke,  p.  387. 

69.  E.  P.  Alexander,  Memoirs  of  a  Confederate,  p.  181. 

70.  O.  R.,  vol.  28,  p.  733. 

71.  D.  H.  Maury,  Recollections  of  a  Virginian,  p.  72. 

72.  Ante,  p.  140. 

73.  0.  R.,  vol.  31,  p.  1033. 

74.  Jones,  Life,  p.  232. 

75.  H.  von  Borcke,  Memoirs  of  the  Confederate  War  for  Independence. 
vol.  n,  p.  260. 

76.  Henderson,  vol.  n,  p.  573. 

77.  Henderson,  vol.  n,  p.  582. 

78.  Jones,  Life,  p.  236. 

79.  Mrs.  Jackson,  p.  71. 


300  NOTES 

CHAPTER  VII 

1.  Jones,  Life,  p.  242. 

2.  J.  Scheibert,  Der  Burgerkrieg  in  den  nordamerikanischen  Staaten, 

P-  39- 

3.  R.  E.  L.,  p.  386. 

4.  Long,  p.  240. 

5.  Wood  and  Edmunds,  p.  137. 

6.  In  Battles  and  Leaders  vol.  II,  p.  366. 

7.  Jones,  Life,  p.  53. 

8.  R.  E.  L.,  p.  89. 

9.  Jones,  Life,  p.  53. 

10.  Jones,  Life,  p.  208. 

11.  Scheibert,   Der  Burgerkrieg   in   den   nordamerikanischen   Staaten, 

P-  39- 

12.  S.  H.  S.  P.,  vol.  xvn,  p.  242. 

13.  H.  von  Borcke,  Memoirs  of  the  Confererate  War  for  Independence, 
vol.  n,  p.  197. 

14.  Jones,  Rem.,  p.  164. 

15.  J.  B.  Gordon,  Reminiscences  of  the  Civil  War,  p.  430. 

16.  Grade's  son,  in  Confederate  Veteran,  vol.  v,  p.  432. 

17.  Jones,  Rem.,  p.  182. 

18.  J.  B.  Gordon,  Reminiscences  of  the  Civil  War,  p.  278,  and  many  other 
authorities. 

19.  J.  Longstreet,  From  Manassas  to  Appomattox,  p.  384. 

20.  S.  H.  S.  P.,  vol.  v,  p.  92. 

21.  In  Longstreet,  From  Manassas  to  Appomattox,  p.  357. 

22.  Harper's,  February,  1911. 

23.  See  M.  H.  S.  of  M.,  vol.  vi,  p.  471. 

24.  Henderson,  vol.  n,  p.  323. 

25.  A.  L.  Fremantle,  Three  Months  in  the  Southern  States,  p.  254. 

26.  E.  P.  Alexander,  Memoirs  of  a  Confederate,  p.  356. 

27.  Fremantle,  Three  Months  in  the  Southern  States,  p.  268. 

28.  Ibid. 

29.  Ibid. 

30.  In  Galaxy,  vol.  xi,  p.  509. 

31.  J.  B.  Gordon,  Reminiscences  of  the  Civil  War,  p.  279. 

32.  5.  H.  S.  P.,  vol.  xxxn,  p.  201. 

33.  S.  H.  S.  P.,  vol.  vin,  p.  565. 

34.  Thomas  Nelson  Page,  Robert  E.  Lee  the  Southerner,  p.  206. 

35.  Memorial  Address,  in  Mason,  p.  361. 

36.  G.  C.  Eggleston,  A  Rebel's  Recollections,  p.  147. 


NOTES  301 

37.  Jones,  Life,  p.  380. 

38.  Colonel  Venable,  Memorial  Address,  in  Jones,  Life,  p.  369. 

39.  Ibid. 

40.  General  Horace  Porter,  in  Battles  and  Leaders,  vol.  iv,  p.  743. 


302  NOTES 


CHAPTER  VIII 

1.  Letters  (1894  edition),  vol.  n,  p.  200. 

2.  J.  C.  Ropes,  The  Story  of  the  Civil  War,  vol.  n,  p.  158. 

3.  Jones,  Rem.,  p.  258. 

4.  Quoted  in  Jones,  Rem.,  p.  223. 

5.  Quoted  in  Jones,  Rem.,  p.  50. 

6.  Life,  p.  381. 

7.  E.  A.  Pollard,  A  Southern  History  of  the  War,  vol.  I,  p.  168. 

8.  E.  A.  Pollard,  A  Southern  History  of  the  War,  vol.  I,  p.  354. 

9.  H.  D.  Longstreet,  Lee  and  Longstreet  at  High  Tide,  p.  83. 

10.  Battles  and  Leaders,  vol.  in,  p.  350. 

11.  S.  H.  S.  P.,  vol.  v,  p.  61. 

12.  S.  H.  S.  P.,  vol.  v,  p.  72. 

13.  Battles  and  Leaders,  vol.  in,  p.  349. 

14.  Jones,  Rem.,  p.  266. 

15.  Adam  Badeau,  Military  History  of  U.  S.  Grant,  vol.  n,  p.  524. 

16.  Badeau,  vol.  ir,  p.  166. 

17.  Badeau,  vol.  n,  p.  220. 

18.  Badeau,  vol.  n,  p.  227. 

19.  Badeau,  vol.  n,  p.  132. 

20.  Colonel  T.  Lyman,  in  M.  H.  S.  of  M.,  vol.  in,  p.  171. 

21.  J.    R.   Young,  Around   the    World   with   General  Grant,    vol.   II, 

P-  459- 

22.  J.  G.  Wilson,  General  Grant,  p.  367. 

23.  Criticism,  taking,  in  a  more  or  less  modified  form,  the  view  of 
Badeau  and  Grant,  is,  of  course,  still  often  met  with.    Colonel  T.  L. 
Livermore's  clear  and  forcible  discussions  in  the  volumes  of  the  Military 
Historical  Society  of  Massachusetts  are  perhaps  the  best  examples  of  it. 
Colonel  Livermore,  in  summing  up  the  Appomattox  Campaign,  says: 
"  No  fault  appears  in  Grant's  generalship.  To  Lee's  failure  to  make  timely 
retreat  from  Petersburg  and  Richmond,  and  perhaps  his  delay  in  ordering 
supplies  to  Amelia  Court  House,  must  be  attributed  his  failure  to  reach  the 
Roanoke."    (Vol.  vi,  p.  501.)    It  may  be  worth  while  to  refer  here  to  the 
very  remarkable  anecdote  told  by  the  Reverend  Dr.  McKim  (A  Soldier's 
Recollections,  p.  258)  of  Grant's  having  discovered  in  a  waste-basket  a 
sketch  of  Lee's  plan  of  retreat  from  Petersburg.    The  story  seems  well 
authenticated,  but  is  rather  difficult  to  accept. 

24.  0.  R.,  vol.  60,  p.  1185. 

25.  R.  E.  L.,  p.  416. 

26.  Jones,  Life,  p.  152. 

27.  Quoted  in  Sainte-Beuve,  Nouveaux  Lundis,  vol.  xni,  p.  96. 


NOTES  303 

28.  A.  Doubleday,  Chancellor sville  and  Gettysburg,  p.  158. 

29.  Page  175. 

30.  J.  C.  Ropes,  The  Army  under  Pope,  p.  in. 

31.  J.  C.  Ropes,  The  Story  of  the  Civil  War,  vol.  n,  p.  468. 

32.  Colonel  W.  R.  Livermore,  Gettysburg,  Mass.  Hist.  Soc.  Proceedings, 
1910,  p.  232. 

33.  J.  C.  Ropes,  The  Story  of  the  Civil  War,  vol.  n,  p.  352. 

34.  Battles  and  Leaders,  vol.  in,  p.  293. 

35.  J.  C.  Ropes,  The  Story  of  the  Civil  War,  vol.  n,  p.  454. 

36.  T.  A.  Dodge,  A  Bird's-Eye  View  of  Our  Civil  War,  p.  218. 

37.  Battles  and  Leaders,  vol.  iv,  p.  162. 

38.  W.  R.  Livermore,  Lee's  Conduct  of  the  Wilderness  Campaign,  Am. 
Hist.  Assoc.  Papers,  1910,  p.  236. 

39.  Wilderness  Campaign,  p.  233. 

40.  Wilderness  Campaign,  p.  243. 

41.  R.  M.  Bache,  Life  of  Meade,  p.  549. 

42.  Mass.  Hist.  Soc.  Proceed.,  1910,  p.  230. 

43.  J.  C.  Ropes,  The  Army  Under  Pope,  p.  35. 

44.  T.  Roosevelt,  Gouverneur  Morris,  p.  52. 

45.  T.  Roosevelt,  Thomas  H.  Benton,  p.  38. 

46.  Field  Marshal   Viscount  Wolseley,  Story  of  a  Soldier's  Life,  vol.  I, 

p.  135- 

47.  Cecil  Battine,  The  Crisis  of  the  Confederacy,  p.  19. 

48.  Battine,  p.  322. 

49.  Battine,  p.  207. 

50.  Wood  and  Edmunds,  p.  242. 

51.  G.  F.  R.  Henderson,  The  Science  of  War,  p.  305. 

52.  Henderson,  Science  of  War,  p.  330. 

53.  Henderson,  Jackson,  vol.  n,  p.  231. 

54.  The  Wilderness  Campaign,  p.  124. 

55.  Cecil  Battine,  The  Crisis  of  the  Confederacy,  p.  380. 

56.  G.  F.  R.  Henderson,  The  Science  of  War,  p.  314. 

57.  Cecil  Battine,  The  Crisis  of  the  Confederacy,  p.  114. 

58.  American  Historical  Association,  Annual  Report,  1910,  p.  246. 

59.  H.  E.  Shepherd,  Life  of  R.  E.  Lee,  p.  117. 

60.  E.  P.  Alexander,  Military  Memoirs  of  a  Confederate,  p.  no. 

61.  0.  R.,  vol.  14,  p.  590. 

62.  0.  R.,  vol.  45,  p.  868. 

63.  W.  Allan,  The  Army  of  Northern  Virginia  in  1862,  p.  200. 

64.  Correspondance  de  Napoleon,  vol.  xviu,  p.  218. 

65.  G.  F.  R.  Henderson,    The  Science  of  War,  p.  4.    It  is  interesting  to 
compare  with  this  remark  of  Henderson,  Scheibert's  assertion  that  Lee  in 
some  points  anticipated  the  later  tactics  of  the  Prussian  army. 


3o4  NOTES 

66.  F.  Lee,  quoted  by  Colonel  W.  R.  Livermore,  Wilderness  Campaign, 
p.  239. 

67.  Sir  E.  B.  Hamley,  The  Operations  of  War,  p.  95. 

68.  Field  Marshal  Viscount  Wolseley,  The  Decline  and  Fall  of  Napoleon, 
p.  30. 

69.  General  W.  F.  Smith  in  M.  H.  S.  of  M.,  vol.  in,  p.  115. 

70.  Vol.  i,  p.  294. 

71.  Rise  of  Wellington,  p.  186. 


NOTES  305 


CHAPTER  IX 

1.  Southern  Magazine,  vol.  xv,  p.  604. 

2.  Quoted  in  Nation,  vol.  XLIV,  p.  322. 

3.  Personal  Memoirs,  vol.  n,  p.  184. 

4.  A  Diary  from  Dixie,  p.  94. 

5.  Long,  p.  433. 

6.  Ibid. 

7.  Mrs.  Davis,  vol.  n,  p.  207. 

8.  Cooke,  p.  206. 

9.  G.  M.  Sorrel,  Recollections  of  a  Confederate  Staff  Officer,  p.  74. 

10.  Jones,  Life,  p.  296. 

11.  Charleston  Courier,  March  10,  1864. 

12.  Mrs.  Guild,  in  Confederate  Veteran,  vol.  VI,  p.  12. 

13.  W.  P.  Johnston,  in  R.  E.  L.,  p.  315. 

14.  Long,  p.  37. 

15.  Jones,  Life,  p.  205. 

16.  R.  E.  L.,  p.  201. 

17.  R.  E.  L.,  p.  395. 

18.  A  Diary  from  Dixie,  p.  94. 

19.  R.  E.  L.,  p.  380. 

20.  Collyar,  in  Confederate  Veteran,  vol.  I,  p.  265. 

21.  Long,  p.  35. 

22.  W.  P.  Johnston,  in  R.  E.  L.,  p.  315. 

23.  Daves,  in  S.  H.  S.  P.,  vol.  xxvi,  p.  119.   I  have  already  quoted  in 
different  connections  remarks  similar  to  this.  The  authenticity  of  some  of 
them  has  been  doubted  and  perhaps  with  reason.   But  there  are  so  many 
instances  that  Lee's  rather  peculiar  habit  of  addressing  himself  to  minor 
subordinates  cannot  be  questioned.    Judge  Garnett  (S.  H.  S.  P.,    vol. 
xxvui,  p.  no)  suggests  an  interesting  explanation.  "And  here  for  the  first 
time  I  experienced  what  I  afterwards  learned  was  almost  a  habit  with 
General  Lee  —  to  think  aloud.    He  murmured  to  himself  as  if  addressing 
me;  'Well,  Captain,  what  shall  we  do? '  To  which  inquiry  I  am  pleased  to 
say  I  had  sense  enough  to  make  no  reply,  and,  indeed,  to  appear  as  if  I  had 
not  heard  it."  Again  Judge  Garnett  says  that  when  a  message  was  brought 
to  the  general  during  the  Wilderness  fighting  and  another  at  Five  Forks, 
"I  heard  his  deep  bass  voice  ask,  'Well,  Captain,  what  shall  we  do?'  " 
Absence  of  mind  may  easily  have  played  a  part  here;  but  I  think  it  quite 
consonant  with  all  we  know  of  Lee  that  he  should  ask  a  subordinate's 
opinion  and  should  even  take  a  genuine  interest  in  it. 

24.  Hunt,  in  Long,  p.  70. 

25.  Battles  and  Leaders,  vol.  i,  p.  226. 


306  NOTES 

26.  Battles  and  Leaders,  vol.  I,  p.  259. 

27.  Eveleth,  in  Long,  p.  35. 

28.  In  Jones,  Life,  p.  36. 

29.  Mason,  p.  24. 

30.  Wise,  quoted  in  Battles  and  Leaders,  vol.  n,  p.  276. 

31.  Jones,  Life,  p.  287. 

32.  Jones,  Life,  p.  102. 

33.  Jones,  Rem.,  p.  213. 

34.  Mason,  p.  22. 

35.  Mason,  p.  23. 

36.  Ibid. 

37.  F.  Lee,  p.  66. 

38.  Jones,  Life,  p.  42. 

39.  R.  E.  L.,  p.  9. 

40.  Jones,  Life,  p.  448. 

41.  Jones,  Life,  p.  94. 

42.  Jones,  Life,  p.  34. 

43.  Jones,  Life,  p.  154. 

44.  R.  E.  L.,  p.  15. 

45.  Jones,  Life,  p.  286. 

46.  Jones,  Life,  p.  91. 

47.  Jones,  Life,  p.  90. 

48.  R.  E.  L.,  p.  342. 

49.  R.  E.  L.,  p.  324. 

50.  Jones,  Life,  p.  99. 

51.  Jones,  Life,  p.  300. 

52.  R.  E.  L.,  p.  303. 

53.  R.  E.  L.,  p.  140. 

54.  R.  E.  L.,  p.  343. 

55.  R.  E.  L.,  p.  374. 

56.  R.  E.  L.,  p.  9. 

57.  R.  E.  L.,  p.  405. 

58.  R.  E.  L.,  p.  ii. 

59.  Jones,  Life,  p.  122. 

60.  R.  E.  L.,  p.  325. 

61.  Jones,  Life,  p.  35. 

62.  Jones,  Life,  p.  84. 

63.  It  seems  to  me  that  I  catch  a  wistful  sense  of  the  element  of  char 
acter  I  am  trying  to  suggest,  without  emphasizing  it  too  much,  in  these 
words  from  an  unpublished  letter  of  Mrs.  Lee:  "I  hope  the  Gen'l  will  be 
able  to  take  a  little  rest.  I  think  he  rather  prefers  lonely  rides  among  the 
mountains  on  his  favourite  grey." 

6.4.  R.E.L.,p.88. 


NOTES  307 


65.  R.  E.  L.,  p.  325. 

66.  R.  E.  L.,  p.  266. 

67.  R.  E.  L.,  p.  6. 

68.  Collyar,  in  Confederate  Veteran,  vol.  I,  p.  265. 

69.  R.E.L..P.  193. 

70.  R.  E.  L.,  p.  324. 

71.  Jones,  Life,  p.  no. 


3o8  NOTES 

CHAPTER  X 

1.  Jones,  Rem.,  p.  214. 

2.  Jones,  Life,  p.  117. 

3.  H.  Lee,  Memoirs  of  the  War  in  the  Southern  Department  of  the  United 
States,  new  edition  with  a  biography  of  the  author  by  Robert  E.  Lee,  p.  50. 

4.  0.  R.,  vol.  60,  p.  117. 

5.  Professor  Joynes,  in  S.  H.  S.  P.,  vol.  xxvm,  p.  246. 

6.  Judge  D.  Gardner  Tyler,  in  Address  at  William  and  Mary  College, 
1911,  p.  10. 

7.  R.  E.  L.,  p.  248. 

8.  Jones,  Life,  p.  35. 

9.  R.  E.  L.,  p.  39. 

10.  Battles  and  Leaders,  vol.  IV,  p.  240. 

11.  Ibid. 

12.  W.  H.  Taylor,  Four  Years  with  General  Lee,  p.  16. 

13.  McCormick,  in  Outlook,  vol.  LVI,  p.  586. 

14.  Jones,  Life,  p.  156. 

15.  Collyar,  in  Confederate  Veteran,  vol.  I,  p.  265. 

16.  W.  H.  Taylor,  Four  Years  with  General  Lee,  p.  76. 

17.  R.  E.  L.,  p.  263. 

18.  R.  E.  L.,  p.  317. 

19.  Ibid. 

20.  Old  Teacher,  in  Long,  p.  28. 

21.  R.  E.  L.,  p.  289. 

22.  0.  R.,  vol.  117,  p.  843. 

23.  Jones,  Life,  p.  307. 

24.  D.  Maury,  Recollections  of  a  Virginian,  p.  239. 

25.  Adam  Badeau,  Military  History  of  U.  S.  Grant,  vol.  in,  p.  615. 

26.  History  of  the  United  States  (ed.  1876),  vol.  v,  p.  389. 

27.  Jones,  Rem.,  p.  239. 

28.  Jones,  Rem.,  p.  288. 

29.  Essays  on  Great  Writers,  p.  343. 

30.  Jones,  Life,  p.  444. 

31.  Professor  Humphreys,  in  E.  S.  Joynes,  Lee  the  College  President, 
p.  23. 

32.  Jones,  Life,  p.  57. 

33.  Jones,  Life,  p.  81. 

34.  Jones,  Rem.,  p.  168. 

35.  S.  H.  S.  P.,  vol.  xxv,  p.  179. 

36.  0.  R.,  vol.  108,  p.  1076. 

37.  R.  E.  L.,  p.  37. 


NOTES  309 

38.  Jones,  Life,  p.  150. 

39.  Jones,  Life,  p.  423. 

40.  J.  W.  Jones,  Christ  in  the  Camp,  p.  79. 

41.  In  Long,  p.  67. 

42.  R.  E.  L.,  p.  317. 

43.  Pendleton,  in  Southern  Magazine,  vol.  XV,  p.  605. 

44.  J.  W.  Jones,  Christ  in  the  Camp,  p.  59. 

45.  Christ  in  the  Camp,  p.  60. 

46.  Christ  in  the  Camp,  p.  79. 

47.  B.  H.  Hill,  in  Jones,  Rem.,  p.  283. 

48.  Jones,  Life,  p.  144. 

49.  Jones,  Christ  in  the  Camp,  p.  50. 

50.  Jones,  Life,  p.  468. 

51.  Ibid. 

52.  Jones,  Rem.,  p.  196. 
53-  Ibid. 

54.  Ibid. 

55'  J-  W.  Jones,  Christ  in  the  Camp,  p.  66. 

56.  Jones,  Rem.,  p.  323. 

57.  0.  R.,  vol.  60,  p.  1150. 

58.  Jones,  Christ  in  the  Camp,  p.  79. 

59.  Among  the  innumerable  Lincoln  anecdotes  is  this  one  told  by 
General  James  F.  Rusling,  in  his  Men  and  Things  I  saw  in  the  Civil  War 
Days  (p.  15).   Lincoln  said  to  him:  "The  fact  is,  in  the  very  pinch  of  the 
campaign  there,  I  went  into  my  room  one  day  and  got  down  on  my  knees, 
and  prayed  Almighty  God  for  victory  at  Gettysburg.   I  told  Him  that  this 
was  His  country,  and  the  war  was  His  war,  but  that  we  really  could  n't 
stand  another  Fredericksburg  or  Chancellorsville.    And  then  and  there  I 
made  a  solemn  vow  with  my  Maker  that  if  He  would  stand  by  you  boys 
at  Gettysburg,  I  would  stand  by  Him." 

60.  R.  E.  L.,  p.  45. 

61.  R.  E.  L.,  p.  108. 

62.  J.  W.  Jones,  Christ  in  the  Camp,  p.  60. 

63.  Jones,  Christ  in  the  Camp,  p.  52. 


310  NOTES 

CHAPTER  XI 

1.  R.  E.  L.,  p.  170. 

2.  Collyar,  in  Confederate  Veteran,  vol.  I,  p.  263. 

3.  Jones,  Rem.t  p.  205. 

4.  Jones,  Rent.,  p.  273. 

5.  Captain  Ranson,  in  Harper's  Magazine,  February,  1911. 

6.  Quoted  in  Cooke,  p.  476. 

7.  Jones,  Rem.,  p.  274. 

8.  Jones,  Life,  p.  396. 

9.  Jones,  Rem.,  p.  323. 

10.  R.  E.  L.,  p.  289. 

11.  Jones,  Rem.,  p.  321. 

12.  R.  E.  L.,  p.  276. 

13.  John  W.  Daniel,  in  S.  H.  S.  P.,  vol.  xi,  p.  363. 

14.  Jones,  Life,  p.  454. 

15.  Long,  p.  233.  Professor  White  (quoted  in  Bright  Skies  and  Dark 
Shadows,  by  H.  M.  Field,  p.  304)  questions  an  anecdote  similar  to  this,  on 
account  of  the  emphatic  gesture,  so  unlike  Lee.  Professor  White  may  be 
correct,  but  the  independent  report  of  two  observers  seems  to  deserve  some 
credit. 

16.  R.  E.  L.,  p.  334. 

17.  Jones,  Rem.,  p.  221. 

18.  R.E.L.,p.35i. 

19.  R.  E.  L.,  p.  261. 

20.  R.E.L.,p.348. 

21.  R.  E.  L.,  p.  389. 

22.  R.  E.  L.,  p.  367. 

23.  R.  E.  L.,  p.  204. 

24.  R.  E.  L.,  p.  386. 

25.  Jones,  Life,  p.  445. 

26.  Jones,  Life,  p.  389. 

27.  Jones,  Life,  p.  445. 

28.  R.  E.  L.,  p.  375. 

29.  Jones,  Life,  p.  409. 

30.  Jones,  Life,  p.  406. 

31.  R.  E.  L.,  p.  335. 

32.  To  Ewell,  in  Jones,  Life,  p.  430. 

33.  Jones,  Life,  p.  422. 

34.  Professor  E.  S.  Joynes,  Lee  the  College  President,  p.  25. 

35.  Kindly  communicated  to  me  by  Mr.  J.  L.  Campbell,  Secretary  of 
Washington  and  Lee  University. 


NOTES  311 

36.  Professor  Joynes,  pp.  27,  28. 

37.  Page  22. 

38.  R.  E.  L.,  p.  316. 

39.  Ibid. 

40.  Jones,  Life,  p.  412. 

41.  Professor  Joynes,  p.  33. 

42.  Ibid. 

43.  Ibid. 

44.  Professor  Joynes,  p.  23. 

45.  Collyar,  in  Confederate  Veteran,  vol.  I,  p.  265. 

46.  Jones,  Life,  p.  422. 

47.  Jones,  Rem.,  p.  286. 

48.  Jones,  Life,  p.  411. 

49.  Professor  Joynes,  Lee  the  College  President,  p.  35. 

50.  Thomas  Nelson  Page,  Robert  E.  Lee,  the  Southerner,  p.  276. 

51.  R.  E.  L.,  p.  331. 

52.  Jones,  Life,  p.  412. 

53.  R.  E.  L.,  p.  296. 

54.  Jones,  Life,  p.  411. 

55.  Professor  Joynes,  p.  35. 

56.  0.  R.,  vol.  121,  p.  536. 

57.  M.  L.  Avary,  Dixie  after  the  War,  p.  71. 

58.  R.  E.  L.,  p.  189. 

59.  Thomas  Nelson  Page,  Robert  E.  Lee,  the  Southerner,  p.  271. 


312  NOTES 


APPENDIX 

1.  Portraits  Litter  air  es,  vol.  in,  p.  546. 

2.  Sainte-Beuve  gives  no  authority  for  this  quotation  from  Macaulay 
and  I  have  not  been  able  to  trace  it  exactly.    Mr.  Norris  E.  Pierson  and 
other  correspondents  have  pointed  out  to  me  passages  somewhat  similar 
in  the  essay  on  "History."    "Those  are  the  best  pictures  and  the  best 
histories  which  exhibit  such  parts  of  the  truth  as  most  nearly  produce  the 
effect  of  the  whole"  (paragraph  16);  and  again,  "Some  events  must  be 
represented  on  a  large  scale,  others  diminished;  the  great  majority  will  be 
lost  in  the  dimness  of  the  horizon;  and  a  general  idea  of  the  joint  effect  will 
be  given  by  a  few  slight  touches"   (paragraph  17).     But  Sainte-Beuve 
appears  to  be  quoting  literally,  and  if  he  is  paraphrasing  these  passages  in 
form,  he  really  betrays  them  in  sense.  See  Sainte-Beuve,  Premier  Lundis, 
vol.  in,  p.  163. 

3.  Nouveaux  Lundis,  vol.  xm,  p.  78. 

4.  Boswell,  vol.  i,  p.  449  (American  ed.  1807). 

5.  History  of  England  (Harper's  ed.,  1853),  vol.  I,  p.  67. 

6.  Memoir  es  (ed.  Hachette,  1884),  vol.  in,  p.  326. 

7.  The  History  of  the  Rebellion  (American  ed.,  1827),  vol.  I,  p.  114. 

8.  Causeries  du  Lundi,  vol.  ix,  p.  229. 

9.  Volume  iv,  p.  25. 


INDEX 


INDEX 


Adams,  C.  F.,  96;  on  Lee's  decision 
to  leave  the  Union,  37. 

Alexander,  General  E.  P.,  on  Lee's 
surrender,  122;  concrete  instance 
of  Lee's  personal  influence  given 
by,  124;  his  description  of  Lee  at 
Gettysburg,  155;  on  Lee  after 
Chancellorsville,  162;  his  estimate 
of  Lee's  generalship,  174;  his  ac 
count  of  General  Ives's  estimate 
of  Lee  before  the  war,  191. 

Allan,  William,  his  estimate  of  Lee's 
generalship,  174. 

Anderson,  Charles,  on  Lee's  manner 
in  society,  196. 

Anderson,  General  R.  H.,  on  Lee  at 
Gettysburg,  160. 

Antietam,  Lee  at,  154,  158;  Lee  on 
the  Potomac  after  the  battle  of, 
161,  162. 

Army,  Lee's,  devoted  to  its  com 
mander,  100;  treated  as  a  human 
body,  101,  102;  discipline  in,  103- 
109;  the  question  of  promotion  in, 
109-112. 

Arnold,  Matthew,  quoted,  33,  43; 
his  essay  on  Falkland,  a  model  of 
psychography,  269;  on  Macaulay, 
271. 

Ashby,  General  Turner,  146. 

Bache,  R.  M.,  his  Life  of  Meade 
quoted  in  commendation  of  Lee, 
184. 

Badeau,  General  Adam,  230;  his  es 
timate  of  Lee's  generalship,  178; 
his  charge  of  duplicity  against 
Lee,  231,  232. 

Bancroft,  George,  on  Washington's 
power  of  secrecy,  231. 

Battine,  Captain  Cecil,  on  the  re 
lation  of  Lee  and  Davis,  55;  criti 


cises  Lee,  1 86;  on  the  Wilderness 
campaign,  187;  his  estimate  of 
Lee's  character,  188. 

Battle,  the  commander's  place  in, 
153;  Lee's  conception  of  his  duty 
and  his  place  in,  153,  154;  Lee's 
courage  and  coolness  in,  156-159. 
See  Antietam,  Gettysburg,  etc. 

Beauregard,  General  P.  G.  T.,  in 
dorsement  by  Davis  on  letter  of, 
53;  letter  of  Lee  to,  quoted,  204. 

Benjamin,  Secretary,  clash  between 
Jackson  and,  142. 

Berkeley,  Sir  William,  governor  of 
Virginia,  undemocratic  views  of, 

7; 

Blair,    Francis   P.,   offers   Lee   the 

command  of  the  United  States 

Army,  28,  29. 
Bledsoe,  Dr.  A.  T.,  letter  of  Lee  to, 

150,  151- 
Boissier,    Gaston,    his    portrait    of 

Cicero,  272. 

Bragg,  General  Braxton,  67,  78. 
Breckinridge,  General  John  C.,  on 

Jefferson  Davis,  50. 
Brown,  John,  Lee's  connection  with 

the  affair  of,  20,  26,  27. 
Buena  Vista,  Lee  at,  n,  12. 
Bull  Run,  147,  148,  181,  187,  204. 
Burke,  Edmund,  quoted,  43,  44. 

Caesar,  Julius,  21,  272. 

Campbell,  J.  L.,  Secretary  of  Wash 
ington  and  Lee  University,  310. 

Cavour,  Count  Camillo  di,  279. 

Chancellorsville,  61,  162;  the  re 
sponsibility  for,  as  between  Lee 
and  Jackson,  147-151;  Lee  at, 
157,  160,  165,  166. 

Charleston  Harbor,  45. 

Chesney,  Colonel  C.  C.,  his  testi- 


INDEX 


mony  to  Lee's  efficiency  as  super 
intendent  of  the  West  Point 
Academy,  17. 

Chesnut,  Mrs.  J.,  quoted,  66,  69,  95, 
20 1,  203,  217;  on  Lee's  manner, 
197,  198;  cited,  281. 

Chesterfield,  Lord,  his  theory  that 
attention  is  the  most  exquisite 
element  of  courtesy,  119. 

Clarendon,  Earl  of,  269,  270,  278. 

Collyar,  J.  B.,  on  Lee's  manner,  202; 
on  Lee's  horse,  Traveler,  220;  on 
Lee's  sadness  after  the  war,  247. 

Confederate  Congress,  criticised  by 
Lee,  82;  votes  to  allow  slaves 
to  serve  as  soldiers,  83. 

Confederate  Government,  Lee's  at 
titude  of  non-interference  with, 
75,  84-92;  its  possible  future,  had 
it  been  victorious,  90,  91,  294. 

Cooke,  John  Esten,  271;  on  Lee's 
memory,  1 1 8 ;  on  Jackson's  love  of 
action,  131. 

Craven,  John  J.,  49,  59. 

Culberson,  Senator,  289. 

Custis,  Miss,  marries  Lee,  9.  See 
Lee,  Mrs.  Robert  E. 

Dabney,  R.  L.,  on  Jackson,  129, 142. 

Davis,  Jefferson,  and  Lee,  the  most 
prominent  figures  of  the  Confeder 
acy,  48;  material  for  the  study  of 
his  character,  48 ;  his  The  Rise  and 
Fall  of  the  Confederate  Government, 
unsatisfactory,  48;  his  oratory, 
49;  his  character,  49-51;  his  rela 
tions  to  the  officers  of  the  Confed 
erate  Army,  51-53;  his  self-confi 
dence,  51,  55;  his  confidence  and 
affection  retained  by  Lee,  53,  63, 
64;  Lee's  solicitude  for,  and  defer 
ence  to,  53-58,  61 ;  conflicts  of 
opinion  between  Lee  and,  58-61* 
snubs  Lee,  61-63;  esteemed  anc 
admired  by  Lee,  65,  66;  change 
of  feeling  toward,  as  the  war  pro 
gressed,  66,  67;  over-parted  in  his 
r61e,  67-70;  his  cabinet,  68,  69 


appoints  Lee  commander-in-chief 
of  Confederate  armies,  71,  72;  re 
mained  in  harmony  with  Lee  to 
the  end,  72,  73;  quoted  on  Lee's 
loyalty  to  the  Confederacy,  86; 
quoted  on  the  destitution  of  the 
army,  102;  on  Lee's  avoidance  of 
seeming  harshness,  103;  anecdote 
of  Lee  and,  159;  the  captivity  of, 
248,  249. 

Davis,  Mrs.  Jefferson  (Varina  How- 
ell),  her  Life  of  her  husband,  48; 
quoted,  50,  52,  55,  63,  64,  69,  70, 
7L  198. 

Davis,  Reuben,  on  Jefferson  Davis, 
70. 

Democracy,  Sedgwick's  definition 
of,  232. 

Demosthenes,  47. 

Desertion,  Lee  advocated  strict 
punishment  for,  105. 

Discipline  in  Lee's  army,  103-109. 

Dodge,  Colonel  T.  A.,  on  Lee's  Wil 
derness  campaign,  183. 

Doubleday,  Abner,  on  the  battle  of 
Gettysburg,  181. 

Early,  General  J.  A.,  65;  Lee's 
method  of  dismissing,  107;  advice 
of  Lee  to,  252. 

Edmunds,  J.  E.   See  Wood. 

Education,  Lee's,  7,  8,  221;  Lee's 
ideas  on,  221,  261;  Lee's  work  and 
plans  in,  at  Washington  College, 

257-259. 

Eggleston,  George  Gary,  271;  his 
view  of  the  original  quality  of 
Lee's  soldiers,  103;  on  the  rever 
ence  in  which  Lee  was  held  by  his 
soldiers,  124;  on  Lee  just  before 
his  surrender,  167. 

Emerson,  R.  W.,  on  Napoleon,  195. 

English  critics  of  Lee,  185-188. 

Ewell,  General  Richard  S.,  144. 

Favoritism,  Lee  not  accused  of,  1 10. 
Finances,  suggestions  of  Lee  with 
regard  to,  80. 


INDEX 


FitzGerald,  Edward,  quoted,  170, 
171. 

Five  Forks,  108. 

Floyd,  General  John  B.,  animosities 
of,  113. 

Forsythe,  John,  on  Jefferson  Davis, 
67. 

Fredericksburg,  148;  Lee  at,  154, 
156. 

Fremantle,  A.  L.,  on  Lee's  appear 
ance  in  battle,  162;  Southern  in 
his  sympathies,  185. 

Gaines's  Mill,  148. 

Gardiner,  S.  R.,  how  far  impartial, 
270. 

Garnett,  Judge,  on  Lee's  habit  of 
thinking  aloud,  305. 

Gettysburg,  61,  115;  letter  of  Lee 
written  a  month  after,  56,  57; 
conduct  of  Longstreet  at,  106, 
1 60,  161,  177;  letter  of  Lee  to 
Pickett  after,  113;  Lee  trusted  by 
his  army  after,  121 ;  Lee's  address 
to  his  army  after,  125;  Lee  at,  155, 
160,  161,  165;  Longstreet  on  Lee 
at,  160,  177;  Lee  condemned  by 
some,  but  not  all,  critics  for  fight 
ing  at,  181-183;  English  critics  on, 
186. 

Gordon,  General  J.  B.,  statement 
by,  of  Lee's  feeling  about  Davis, 
65;  on  Lee's  feeling  about  the 
Confederate  Congress,  96;  his  de 
scription  of  Lee  and  his  soldiers 
in  battle,  164;  his  estimate  of 
Lee's  generalship,  175. 

Gracie,  General  Archibald,  159. 

Grant,  U.  S.,  21,  85,  118,  183;  on 
Davis,  55;  Lee's  correspondence 
with,  as  to  recaptured  slaves,  77; 
on  Lee,  as  being  difficult  of  access 
to  subordinates,  115,  196;  and 
Lee,  compared,  168,  169;  his  esti 
mate  of  Lee's  generalship,  179; 
Lee's  estimate  of  the  generalship 
of,  179,  252;  member  of  university 
faculty  rebuked  by  Lee  for  disre 


spect  toward,  226;  anecdote  of, 
227;  on  Lee's  probable  influence 
in  bringing  about  reconciliation 
and  peace,  265. 

Grasset,  F.,  saying  attributed  to 
Scott  by,  288. 

Great  men,  the  advantage  of  study 
ing,  280. 

Greek,  Lee's  acquaintance  with, 
221-223. 

Gregg,  General  Maxey,  146. 

Guild,  Mrs.  Lafayette,  121,  200. 

Hallowell,  Benjamin,  Lee  attends 
school  of,  8. 

Hamley,  Sir  Edward,  on  the  "pre 
science"  of  successful  generals, 

193- 

Hart,  Professor  A.  B.,  on  Davis's 
cabinet,  68. 

Henderson,  G.  F.  R.,  on  Lee  and 
Davis,  55;  on  Lee's  geniality,  115; 
on  Jackson,  134,  142,  143,  148; 
on  Lee  after  Antietam,  161;  criti 
cises  Lee,  185,  1 86;  praises  Lee, 
187,  188,  194,  195;  on  the  latitude 
given  by  Lee  to  his  division  com 
manders,  192,  193;  his  life  of  Jack 
son  as  psychography,  272. 

Hill,  A.  P.,  159;  Lee  said  to  be  par 
tial  to  Virginia  in  case  of,  1 1 1 ; 
quarrel  of,  with  Longstreet,  113; 
quoted  in  criticism  of  Lee,  123; 
his  relations  with  Jackson,  146, 
147;  at  Antietam,  158. 

Hill,  B.  H.,  235;  on  Lee's  humility, 
239;  colloquy  of  Lee  with,  88,  89; 
his  estimate  of  Lee's  generalship, 
174,  175;  his  description  of  Lee  as 
"a  man  without  guile,"  274. 

Hill,  D.  H.,  191. 

Hood,  John  B.,  161. 

Hooker,  General  J.,  on  Lee's  army, 
103. 

Hosmer,  J.  K.,  quoted,  289. 

Hunt,  General  H.  J.,  on  Lee's  physi 
cal  appearance,  22 ;  on  the  battle 
of  Gettysburg,  183;  on  Lee  as  a 


INDEX 


peacemaker,  203 ;  conversation  of, 
with  Lee,  on  Puseyism,  237. 
Hunter,   General  Andrew,   83,  95, 
251. 

Imboden,  General  J.  DM  his  report 
of  conversation  with  Lee,  86,  87; 
his  description  of  Lee  in  time  of 
defeat,  163,  164. 

Ives,  Colonel  J.  C.,  191. 

Jackson  (T.  J.),  Stonewall,  a  born 
fighter,  127;  without  personal 
charm,  127;  did  not  lack  warmth 
and  human  kindness,  128;  a  man 
of  will  and  energy,  129,  130;  his 
love  of  adventure  and  his  ambi 
tion,  130-132;  his  religion  and 
scrupulousness,  132,  133,  151, 
152;  his  ambition  and  his  religion, 
how  reconciled,  133-135;  his  early 
opinion  of  Lee,  135,  136;  his  loy 
alty  to  Lee,  136;  Lee's  opinion  of, 
138-140;  and  Lee,  the  practical 
military  relations  of,  140,  141; 
not  adapted  to  working  under 
orders  from  others,  141,  142;  did 
not  take  kindly  to  dictation  from 
Richmond,  142,  143;  loved  by  his 
soldiers,  143,  144;  attitude  of  of 
ficers  toward,  144-146;  demanded 
implicit  obedience,  144,  145;  kept 
his  plans  to  himself,  145;  his  re 
lations  with  A.  P.  Hill,  146,  147; 
his  relations  with  Lee  as  to  strat 
egy  and  tactics,  147,  148;  and  Lee, 
at  Chancellorsville,  148-151;  and 
Lee,  the  military  difference  be 
tween,  152;  Henderson's  life  of ,  as 
psychography,  272. 

Jackson,  Mrs.  Mary  A.,  144,  149; 
quoted,  128,  132,  133,  152. 

Jefferson,  President,  his  opinion  of 
Harry  Lee's  memoirs,  5;  deplores 
lack  of  educational  institutions 
in  Virginia,  7. 

Johnson,  Samuel,  quoted,  276. 

Johnston,  Albert  Sidney,  52. 


Johnston,  J.  E.,  no,  282;  Davis's 
quarrel  with,  52;  and  Lee, 
Ropes's  comparison  of,  171,  172; 
letter  of  Lee  to,  quoted,  204;  Lee's 
friendship  for,  204;  his  eulogy  of 
Lee,  204,  205. 

Johnston,  W.  P.,  quoted  on  Lee, 
200,  203. 

Jomini,  Henri,  fundamental  princi 
ple  of,  violated  by  Lee  at  Gettys 
burg,  181. 

Jones,  J.  B.,  quoted,  63,  68,  69,  84. 

Jones,  J.  W.,  quoted,  4,  22,  23,  51, 
118,  175,  176,238,245. 

Joynes,  Professor  E.  S.,  quoted,  259, 
261. 

Keyes,  E.  D.,  quoted  on  Lee,  22. 

Lawley,  F.,  correspondent  of  the 
London  Times,  on  Jackson,  135. 

Leary,  Wm.  B.,  teacher  of  Lee,  8. 

Lee,  Fitzhugh,  quoted,  3,  193. 

Lee  (Henry),  Light  Horse  Harry, 
father  of  Robert,  4,  5;  his  attach 
ment  to  Virginia,  36;  his  interest 
in  literature,  223. 

Lee,  Colonel  Richard,  ancestor  of 
Robert,  3. 

Lee,  Robert  E.,  his  ancestry,  3;  his 
indifference  to  his  ancestry,  3,  4; 
at  his  father's  grave,  5;  his  rela 
tions  with  his  mother,  5,  6;  his 
childhood,  6;  his  love  of  sports,  6; 
his  boyish  memories,  6,  7;  his  edu 
cation,  7,  8,  221;  at  West  Point, 
8;  appointed  to  Engineer  Corps 
and  stationed  at  Old  Point  Com 
fort,  9;  marries  Miss  Custis,  9; 
his  connection  with  the  Virginia 
aristocracy,  9,  10;  impression  of 
greatness  made  upon  relatives  by, 
10;  his  engineering  labors,  10,  n, 
1 6,  17;  his  perseverance  without 
regard  to  criticism,  n;  his  ser 
vices  during  the  Mexican  War, 
11-13;  his  appreciation  of  Mexi 
can  landscape,  14;  his  words 


INDEX 


about  a  Mexican  shrine,  14,  15; 
on  the  treatment  of  Trist,  15;  on 
Scott  as  a  general,  15,  16;  his 
views  on  the  Mexican  War,  16; 
superintendent  of  the  West  Point 
Academy,  17;  appointed  to  a 
lieutenant-colonelcy,  18;  his  grief 
at  reading  funeral  service  over  a 
child,  18;  extracts  from  letters  to 
his  children,  18,  19;  despondent  at 
the  condition  of  the  country  at  the 
approach  of  war,  19;  his  connec 
tion  with  the  John  Brown  affair, 
20,  26,  27;  his  physical  qualities 
and  personal  appearance,  20-24. 

Legend,  growth  of,  to  be  de 
plored,  25,  26;  actions  of,  guided 
by  conscience,  26,  47;  his  convic 
tion  that  a  soldier  should  not  med 
dle  with  politics,  26;  his  attitude 
toward  the  political  parties  before 
the  war,  27,  28;  offered  the  com 
mand  of  the  United  States  Army, 
28,  29;  his  interview  with  Scott, 
29-32,  289;  his  resignation  of  his 
position  in  the  army,  32,  289;  ac 
cepts  position  as  commander-in- 
chief  of  Virginia  forces,  32,  45,  74; 
discussion  of  his  action  in  leaving 
the  Union,  32-39;  his  views  on  se 
cession,  35, 92 ;  his  attitude  toward 
slavery,  39-43,  82,  83,  207-209; 
no  irresolution  in,  44,  45;  showed 
no  bitterness  toward  the  North, 
45;  his  pride  in  the  cause  of  the 
South,  45,  46;  his  conduct  free 
from  thought  of  personal  credit  or 
advantage,  46,  47. 

And  Davis,  the  most  prominent ; 
figures  of  the   Confederacy,  48;  j 
held  the  confidence  and  affection  of 
Davis,  53, 63, 64;  his  solicitude  for, 
and  deference  to,   Davis,  53-58, 
6 1 ;  his  proposal  of  resignation  af 
ter  Gettysburg,  56-58 ;  his  dignity, 
58;  urged  upon  Davis  the  wants 
of  the  army,  59 ;  occasionally  made 
suggestions  as  to  political  ques 


tions,  59,  60;  conflict  of  opinion 
between  Davis  and,  in  military 
matters,  60,  61;  snubs  offered  to, 
by  Davis,  61-63;  esteemed  and 
admired  Davis,  65,  66;  suggestion 
that  he  be  made  dictator,  70,  71, 
83,  84;  appointed  commander-in- 
chief  of  Confederate  armies,  71, 
72;  remained  in  harmony  with 
Davis  to  the  end,  72,  73. 

His  willingness  to  sacrifice  his 
position  and  prospects,  74,  75; 
disclaimed  interference  with  civil 
authority,  75-77;  his  attitude 
toward  prisoners  of  war,  76,  77; 
forced  to  advise  and  dictate  to  his 
superiors,  77-8 1 ;  his  views  on  re 
taliation,  8i;  his  invasion  pro 
clamations,  81;  criticises  the 
Confederate  Congress,  82;  his  ef 
fort  to  have  the  negroes  enlisted 
as  soldiers,  82,  83;  refuses  to  vio 
late  his  subordination  to  the  presi 
dent,  84;  reason  for  his  refusal, 
85-92;  his  avoidance  of  duties 
that  did  not  belong  to  him,  87,  88; 
his  colloquy  with  B.  H.  Hill,  88, 
89;  conversation  of,  with  Bishop 
Wilmer,  92,  93;  his  idea  of  peace 
with  Confederate  independence, 
93-95;  his  condemnation  of  the 
lack  of  earnestness  of  the  South 
ern  people,  95,  96;  surrendered 
only  when  fighting  was  practically 
impossible,  96,  97;  after  the  war 
acted  as  devoted  citizen,  97-99. 

His  army  devoted  to  him,  100;  a 
great  army  organizer,  100;  treated 
his  army  as  a  human  body,  101, 
102;  his  army  discipline,  103-106; 
his  discipline  of  officers,  106-109; 
his  difficulty  with  the  question  of 
promotion,  109-112;  quarrels 
among  his  generals,  112-114;  his 
personal  relations  with  his  offi 
cers,  114-116;  called  by  Tyler  un 
approachable,  115;  his  democratic 
manner,  116,  117;  his  extraordin- 


320 


INDEX 


ary  memory,  118,  119;  simplicity 
of  his  arrangements,  119-121;  be 
loved  and  trusted  by  army,  121- 
126;  loved  and  trusted  his  army, 
125,  126. 

Letter  of,  to  Jackson,  quotation 
from,  133;  Jackson's  early  opin 
ion  of,  135,  136;  Jackson's  loyalty 
to,  136;  his  opinion  of  Jackson, 
138-140;  arid  Jackson,  the  practi 
cal  military  relations  of,  140,  141 ; 
his  interference  in  the  differences 
between  Jackson  and  Hill,  146, 
147;  his  relations  with  Jackson  as 
to  strategy  and  tactics,  147,  148; 
and  Jackson,  at  Chancellorsville, 
148-151;  his  religion  compared 
with  that  of  Jackson,  151,  152; 
and  Jackson,  the  military  differ 
ence  between,  152. 

His  conception  of  his  duty  and 
his  place  in  battle,  153,  154;  at  va 
rious  battles,  —  Fredericksburg, 
Antietam,  the  Peninsular  battles, 
and  Gettysburg,  154,  155,  160, 
177,  181,  182;  to  what  extent  he 
had  the  soldier's  lust  for  battle, 
J56,  236;  the  quality  of  his 
personal  courage,  156,  I57»  at 
Chancellorsville,  157,  160,  165; 
his  coolness  in  battle,  157;  never 
wounded,  157,  158;  solicitous 
about  unnecessary  exposure  of 
his  men,  158,  159;  indifferent  to 
his  own  danger,  159;  Major  Ran- 
son's  testimony  to  a  conversation 
between  Longstreet  and,  160, 
161;  on  the  Potomac  after  An 
tietam,  161,  162;  his  politeness 
in  battle,  162;  his  sympathy  in 
battle,  163;  Imboden's  descrip 
tion  of,  in  time  of  defeat,  163,  164; 
enthusiasm  of  his  men,  164,  165; 
his  personal  influence  in  critical 
moments,  165;  his  surrender  to 
Grant,  166-168,  277;  and  Grant, 
compared,  168, 169;  and  Johnston, 
Ropes's  comparison  of,  171,  172. 


Statement  of  events  of  his  mili 
tary  career  during  the  war,  173, 
174;  various  estimates  of  his  gen 
eralship,  174-179;  his  immense 
difficulties,  180;  mistakes  of,  181, 
182;  Northern  eulogy  of ,  182-184; 
foreign  views  of,  184-188;  Colonel 
Eben  Swift's  estimate  of ,  188, 189; 
his  organizing  ability,  190 ;  his 
boldness,  190;  his  views  on  taking 
chances,  191,  192;  his  energy  and 
rapidity  of  action,  192,  193;  his 
knowledge  of  human  nature,  193, 
194;  his  clear-sightedness,  194, 

195-  m 

His  manner  in  society,  196- 
198;  fond  of  the  company  of  la 
dies,  but  without  love  affairs,  198, 
199;  had  Old- World  courtesy  and 
chivalry,  199,  200;  had  a  sense  of 
humor,  200-202;  courteous  in 
business  transactions,  202 ;  de 
ferred  to  others'  opinions,  202, 
203;  a  peacemaker  by  nature, 
203;  did  not  give  unreserved 
friendship  to  any,  203,  204;  his 
friendship  for  Johnston,  204; 
Johnston's  eulogy  of,  204,  205; 
liked  to  play  the  mentor,  205-207 ; 
as  a  son,  209;  as  a  father,  209- 
214;  pictures  of,  in  his  home  life, 
214,  215;  as  a  husband,  216;  lec 
tures  in  letters  to  his  wife,  216, 
217;  rarely  expresses  sense  of  lone 
liness,  217,  218;  his  love  of  chil 
dren,  219;  his  love  of  animals,  219, 
220. 

His  ideas  on  educational  mat 
ters,  221,  257-261 ;  his  literary  ex 
pression,  221,  222;  had  no  great 
love  for  literature  or  science,  222, 
223;  was  not  passionately  inter 
ested  in  the  study  of  his  profes 
sion,  223,  224;  not  sensitive  to 
aesthetic  pleasures,  224,  225;  his 
temper,  225-227;  his  self-control, 
227,  228;  his  exactness,  228-230; 
his  utterances  colorless  and  re- 


INDEX 


321 


strained,  230-232;  his  idea  of  a 
gentleman,  232,  233;  his  indiffer 
ence  to  glory,  233,  234;  his  pa 
tience  under  criticism,  234-236; 
his  religion,  236-246;  his  humility, 
239,  240. 

Saddened  by  the  war,  247;  de 
sired  quiet,  247,  253;  his  attitude 
toward  the  United  States  Govern 
ment,  247,  248;  his  attitude 
toward  the  captivity  of  Davis, 
248,  249;  his  attitude  toward  poli 
tics  after  the  war,  249 ;  his  views  on 
negro  suffrage,  249;  remembered 
and  prayed  for  his  soldiers,  250; 
remembered  by  his  soldiers,  250, 
251;  comments  of,  on  the  war, 
251,  252;  shunned  publicity 
through  the  press,  252;  his  admir 
ing  friends  and  his  family,  254;  of 
fers  made  to,  255,  256;  president 
of  Washington  College,  256-264; 
his  death,  258;  his  influence  in 
bringing  about  reconciliation  and  j 
peace,  265;  was  great,  though  he 
failed,  265,  266;  and  psycho- 
graphy,  269-283. 

Lee,  Captain  R.  E.,  son  of  Lee,  his 
testimony  to  Lee's  tact  when  su 
perintendent  of  the  West  Point 
Academy,  17,  18;  on  Lee's  like 
nesses,  22;  on  Lee's  guidance  of 
his  children,  154;  on  Lee's  re 
quirement  of.  obedience  in  the 
family,  210,  211;  his  pictures  of 
Lee's  home  life,  213-216;  on  Lee's 
Icve  of  children,  219;  on  interest 
in  Lee  after  the  war,  254. 

Lee,  Mrs.  Robert  E.,  229;  marriage, 
9;  her  account  of  the  way  in  which 
Lee's  decision  to  leave  the  Union 
was  made,  44;  as  wife  and  mo 
ther,  198,  215,  216. 

Lees,  the,  of  Virginia,  3,  4. 

Lincoln,  Abraham,  21,  40,  309. 

Literature,  Lee's  lack  of  great  inter 
est  in,  222-224. 

Livermore,  Colonel  T.  L.,  on  the 


question  why  Lee  did  not  earlier 
abandon  Petersburg,  161;  on  the 
generalship  of  Grant  and  Lee,  302. 

Livermore,  Colonel  W.  R.,  on  mis 
takes  made  by  Lee,  181,  182;  on 
the  Wilderness  Campaign,  183; 
commends  Lee,  184. 

Long,  Colonel  A.  L.,  his  description 
of  Lee  at  his  father's  grave,  5 ;  on 
Lee's  love  of  hunting,  6;  on  the 
impression  made  by  Lee  of  being 
a  great  man,  10;  on  Lee's  charac 
ter,  25;  states  that  Scott  urged 
Lee  to  remain  in  the  Union,  29; 
his  report  of  colloquy  between 
Lee  and  B.  H.  Hill,  88;  on  Lee's 
equipment  of  an  army,  100;  words 
of  Lee  to,  on  mercenary  and  vol 
unteer  armies,  104;  anecdote  of 
Lee  and,  120;  on  Lee  at  Freder- 
icksburg,  154;  on  Lee's  manner 
in  society,  197;  on  Lee's  conversa 
tion,  202. 

Longstreet,  James,  on  Lee's  charm 
in  conversation  about  his  child 
hood  ,  6, 7 ;  on  his  own  decision  with 
regard  to  leaving  the  Union,  36, 
37;  on  depletion  of  forces  by  de 
sertion,  62 ;  Jackson  accused  of  dis 
respect  toward  Lee  by,  141 ;  pa 
tronized  Lee,  106, 107;  quarrel  of, 
with  Hill,  113;  loved  and  trusted 
Lee,  122,  123;  disapproved  Lee's 
determination  to  fight  at  Sharps- 
burg,  137;  his  description  of  Lee 
at  Gettysburg,  1 60 ;  a  conversation 
between  Lee  and,  160,  161;  his 
estimate  of  Lee's  generalship, 
176;  on  Lee  at  Gettysburg,  177. 

Lowell,  J.  R.,  his  A  Great  Public 
Character,  a  model  of  psycho- 
graphy,  269. 

Macaulay,  T.  B.,  his  way  of  putting 
things,  271,  312;  his  description  of 
Laud,  277. 

Malvern  Hill,  182,  186. 

Mangold,  quoted,  103. 


322 


INDEX 


Marshall,  Colonel  Charles,  on  the 
love  of  Lee's  men  for  their  general, 
124;  his  description  of  the  third 
day  at  Chancellorsville,  165,  166. 

Mason,  Miss  E.  V.,  quoted,  7, 
209. 

Mason  and  Slidell,  Lee  on  capture 
of,  274. 

McClellan,  General  G.  B.,  190,  194, 
231,252. 

McGuire,  Hunter,  136;  quoted,  144. 

McKim,  Rev.  Dr.  R.  H.,  anecdote 
told  by,  302. 

Meigs,  General  M.  C,  on  Lee's  phy 
sical  appearance,  22 ;  on  Lee's  dig 
nity,  58. 

Mexican  War,  Lee's  services  during, 
11-13;  Lee's  views  on,  16. 

Mexico,  Lee's  appreciation  of  scen 
ery  in,  14,  15. 

Motives,  not  easy  to  arrive  at,  276, 
277. 

Napoleon  Bonaparte,  2 1 ;  his  exemp 
tion  from  responsibility,  75,  76; 
his  address  to  his  soldiers  in  Vi 
enna  quoted,  81;  on  the  necessity 
to  a  general  of  a  cool  head,  171; 
Emerson  on,  195. 

Negroes,  Lee's  effort  to  have  them 
enlisted,  82,  83;  Lee's  views  on 
giving  the  suffrage  to,  249. 

Northrop,  Lucius  B.,  commissary- 
general  of  the  Confederacy,  59, 


Olmsted,  Frederick  Law,  on  the 
Virginia  aristocracy,  9. 

•Page,  Thomas  Nelson,  on  the  Vir 
ginia  aristocracy,  9;  his  descrip 
tion  of  Lee  riding  through  the 
ranks  before  a  conflict,  165;  anec 
dote  of  Lee  told  by,  263. 

Palfrey,  General  F.  W.,  180;  quoted, 
100. 

Paris,  Comte  de,  185. 

Passports,  80. 


Pendleton,  General  William  N.,  on 
Lee's  manner  in  society,  196;  on 
Lee's  religion,  238. 

Peninsular  battles,  155,  182,  192. 

Pickens,  Governor  F.  W.,  quoted, 
122. 

Pickett,  G.  E.,  animadversions  in  his 
report  of  the  battle  of  Gettysburg, 
113,  114. 

Pierson,  Norris  E.,  312. 

Pillage,  Lee's  orders  in  regard  to, 
105. 

Pillow,  G.  J.,  his  testimony  to  Lee's 
services  in  the  Mexican  War,  13. 

Politics,  Lee  reluctant  to  interfere  in 
questions  of,  59,  60,  75;  Lee's  atti 
tude  toward,  after  the  war,  249. 

Pollard,  E.  A.,  70,  82,  85;  on  Lee  and 
Davis,  53,  84;  his  opinion  of  Da 
vis,  68;  words  of  Mrs.  Davis 
quoted  by,  71 ;  his  statement  that 
Lee  never  expressed  an  opinion  as 
to  the  chances  of  the  war,  91 ;  his 
estimate  of  Lee's  generalship, 
176. 

Polybius,  quoted,  194. 

Porter,  Colonel  Horace,  on  Lee's  sur 
render,  277. 

Potomac,  the,  Lee  on,  after  Antie- 
tam,  161,  162. 

Preston,  Colonel  Robert,  on  Lee's 
physical  appearance,  22. 

Preston,  Mrs.  M.  J.,  131. 

Prisoners  of  war,  Lee's  attitude 
toward,  76,  77. 

Proclamation,  invasion,  Lee's,  81. 

Promotion,  the  question  of,  in  Lee's 
army,  109-112. 

Psychography,  and  Lee,  269-283; 
meaning  of  the  word,  269;  diffi 
culties  of,  269-278 ;  reasons  for  en 
gaging  in,  278-280. 

Putnam,  Mrs.  E.  W.,  223. 

Ranson,  Major  A.  R.  H.,  on  Lee's 
officers,  1 08;  his  testimony  to  a 
conversation  between  Lee  and 
Longstreet,  160,  161. 


INDEX 


323 


Rawle,  William,  his  text-book  on  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States, 

33- 

Reconstruction,  Lee's  attitude  to 
ward  the  methods  of,  248. 

Reconstruction  Committee,  the,  36, 
77,  248,  249. 

Redwood,  Allen  C.,  296. 

Religion,  Lee's  views  on,  236-246. 

Renan,  J.  E.,  275. 

Retaliation,  Lee's  ideas  on,  81. 

Rhett,  Edmund,  on  President  Da 
vis,  66;  his  abuse  of  B.  H.  Hill, 
274. 

Rhodes,  James  Ford,  on  Lee's  char 
acteristics,  25;  how  far  impartial, 
270. 

Richmond  Examiner,  on  giving  su 
preme  power  to  Lee,  70,  71,83,  84; 
on  Lee's  responsibility  in  enlisting 
slaves  as  soldiers,  83. 

Roberts,  Lord,  quotes  Napoleon's 
remark  about  a  cool  head,  171 ;  on 
Wellington,  195. 

Roosevelt,  Theodore,  his  eulogy  of 
Lee,  184. 

Ropes,  John  Codman,  on  Davis,  55; 
condemns  Lee's  determination  to 
fight  at  Sharpsburg,  137;  his  com 
parison  of  Johnston  and  Lee,  171 ; 
on  mistakes  made  by  Lee,  181, 
182;  admires  Lee's  temerity,  183; 
commends  Lee,  184. 

Rothschild,  Alonzo,  his  Lincoln: 
Master  of  Men,  a  model  of  psycho- 
graphy,  269. 

Rusling,  General  James  FM  anecdote 
of  Lincoln  told  by,  309. 

Sainte-Beuve,  C.  A.,  a  psycho- 
grapher,  269,  272;  on  Macau- 
lay,  271,  312  ;  his  views  on  re 
ported  speeches,  275,  276 ;  on 
the  degree  of  intimacy  obtain 
able  in  the  study  of  fellow-men, 
278 ;  weakest  in  point  of  love, 
282. 

Saint-Simon,    Louis   de    Rouvroy, 


Due  de,  269, 270;  on  La  Feuillade, 
278. 

Scheibert,  J.,  185;  commends  brav 
ery  of  Jackson's  troops  at  Chan- 
cellorsville,  104;  his  testimony  to 
Lee's  coolness  in  battle  of  Chan 
cellors  ville,  157,  1 60;  says  Lee  was 
restless  and  uneasy  at  Gettys 
burg,  1 60;  remark  of,  that  Lee  in 
some  points  anticipated  later  tac 
tics  of  Prussian  army,  303. 

Scott,  General  Winfield,  his  testi 
mony  to  Lee's  services  in  the  Mexi 
can  War,  12,  13;  Lee's  testimony 
to  the  character  of,  as  a  general, 
15,  16,  288;  his  interview  with  Lee 
before  the  Civil  War,  29-32. 

Secession,  the  principle  of,  34-39, 92. 

Seddon,  J.  A.,  63,  77,  78. 

Sedgwick,  H.  D.,  his  definition  of 
democracy,  232. 

Seward,  W.  H.,  50. 

Shields,  James,  his  testimony  to 
Lee's  services  in  the  Mexican 
War,  13. 

Slavery,  Lee's  attitude  toward,  39- 
43,  82,  83,  207-209. 

Smith,  G.  W.,  quoted  in  criticism  of 
Lee,  122,  123. 

Smith,  General  P.  F.,  his  testimony 
to  Lee's  services  in  the  Mexican 
War,  12. 

Society,  Lee  in,  196-203;  motives  of 
men  in  seeking,  217,  218. 

Sorrel,  G.  M.,  quoted,  6,  106,  117, 
199. 

Speeches,  reported,  what  is  true  in 
them,  275,  276. 

Stephens,  Alexander  H.,  on  Lee's 
physical  appearance,  23;  his  pic 
ture  of  Lee's  willingness  to  sacrifice 
his  position  and  prospects,  74,  75. 

Stiles,  Robert,  quoted,  no,  113. 

Stuart,  General  J.  E.  B.,  107,  109, 
114,  276. 

Swift,  Colonel  Eben,  on  Lee  and  the 
Wilderness  campaign,  188-190. 

Swinton,  William,  252. 


324 


INDEX 


Taylor,  Colonel  W.  H.,  anecdotes  of 
Lee  told  by,  120,  226,  228. 

Thayer,  Colonel,  on  drunkenness 
and  dissipation  at  West  Point, 
8. 

Townsend,  General  E.  D.,  his  ac 
count  of  interview  between  Lee 
and  Scott,  29-31 ;  error  in  his  nar 
rative,  289. 

Trist,  N.  P.,  Lee  on  the  treatment 
of,  15. 

Twiggs,  General  D.  E.,  anecdote  of, 
109. 

Tyler,  John,  Jr.,  in,  115,  118. 

United  States  Government,  Lee's 
attitude  toward,  after  the  war, 
247.  248. 

Vance,  Governor,  94,  95. 
Vaughan-Sawyer,    Captain   G.  HM 

on     the    Wilderness     campaign, 

187. 
Venable,  Colonel  Charles  SM  quoted, 

22,  115,  116,  225. 
Virginia,  education  in,  in  Jefferson's 

time,  7;  aristocracy  of,  9;  joins  the 

Confederacy,  74. 

Washington,  George,  21,  35. 
Washington  College,  243,  256-264. 


Washington  and  Lee  University. 
See  Washington  College. 

Webb,  General  A.  S.,  quoted,  183. 

Wellington,  Duke  of,  75,  195. 

West  Point,  Lee  a  student  at,  8;  dis 
sipation  among  students  at,  8; 
Lee  superintendent  at,  17. 

White,  H.  A.,  quoted,  17. 

Whiting,  General  W.  H.  C.,  62. 

Wilderness,  Lee  in  battles  of,  159; 
campaign,  condemned  by  Amer 
ican  critics,  183;  approved  by 
English  critics,  187;  Colonel  Eben 
Swift  on,  1 88,  189. 

Wilmer,  Bishop,  conversation  'of, 
with  Lee,  92,  93. 

Wilson,  Henry,  40. 

Wise,  General  Henry  A.,  animosi 
ties  of,  113;  anecdote  of  his  swear 
ing,  206, 207 ;  anecdote  illustrating 
his  respect  for  Lee's  judgment, 
265. 

Wise,  J.  S.,  on  Lee's  physical  appear 
ance,  23;  on  Lee's  influence  over 
friends  and  family,  97. 

Wolseley,  Lord,  on  Lee,  185;  on 
Napoleon,  194. 

Wood,  W.  B.,  and  Edmunds,  J.  E., 
quoted,  154,  155,  186. 

Young,  J.  R.,  quoted,  179. 


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